7 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Apartment Listings
Shared post from Appfolio
It’s basic statistics. The more people see your apartment listings out in the wild, the bigger your pool of possible applicants becomes, and the faster you can rent your vacant units (and the happier your property owners will be). For property managers looking to fill vacancies quickly, these 7 tips to drive traffic to apartment listings can make all the difference.
#1 Create high-quality listings
Even if traffic is your ultimate goal, you need to have strong listings to turn that high traffic into paying renters. High-quality listings benefit most from detailed, accurate descriptions of properties and amenities and clear photos that show apartments in their best light. Once your listings look good, you’re ready to share them.
How to Take Better Photos for Your Property Listings
10 Best Practices for Listing Your Properties
#2 Use real estate aggregator sites
Renters in many cities use aggregator websites like Trulia or Zillow to search for homes and apartments for rent. If your apartment complex has fewer than 50 units, you can create a free listing on Zillow or Trulia. If your complex has more than 50 units, you will need to pay to list the property. Even if you have to pay, this is a great way to increase both listing views and tenant applications. Property management software can ease this manual burden and cost by streaming your listings to third-party sites.
5 Rental Sites for Listing Your Properties in 2016
How AppFolio Boosts Your Marketing Efforts in 2016
#3 Blog about your apartment community
A blog is a convenient way to share helpful information with your existing tenants, increase placement in search results for your apartment complex, and advertise vacancies. Blogs don’t have to be time-consuming; even just blogging once a week can increase the placement of your apartment and open listings in search results. The higher up you can land, the more users will click through to your listings page.
6 Blog Topic Ideas for Property Managers
#4 Pay for online advertising
PPC or pay-per-click advertising can be a simple yet effective way to generate listing traffic. Set a budget and select keywords that include your city or town plus search terms like “studio apartment,” “town home for rent,” or “2BR apartment.” You’ll only pay when users click through to your listing. PPC ads are a reliable way to get traffic quickly. If you accept pets, have short-term rentals, or have any other niche that will set you apart, PPC advertising can help you attract renters searching for apartments like yours.
Grow Your Property Management Business Through Local PPC
Improving Your Digital Marketing Strategies
#5 Share apartment listings on social media
Social media is a great way to drive traffic to apartment listings, yet many property managers aren’t using social media to advertise vacant units. Advertise your open listings across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Include high-quality photos of your apartment and a brief yet compelling description. Existing tenants will share your social post with friends looking for an apartment for rent, effectively marketing on your behalf. While it will take a little time to create initial social posts for apartments, you’ll be able to reuse the descriptions going forward to be more efficient.
Property Manager’s Guide: 7 Steps to Social Media Renting Success
#6 Shoot an apartment video
People love watching and sharing videos. In fact, according to Hubspot 55 percent of web users watch and share at least one video every day. Investing in quality video production will help you generate awareness and desire for properties that you manage. Consider shooting a virtual tour of units as well as a tour of the outside of your apartment complex and all common areas. General videos are best, since they can be reused with all new vacancies.
Lights! Camera! Action! Getting the Most From Virtual Property Tours
#7 Reward tenants for sharing open listings
If you’ve tried all these tips and you still need traffic for open listings, recruit your residents to help you out. Host a contest where renters must share your apartment listing via social media and tag you in the shared post. Then use a random giveaway to reward a renter with a gift certificate, pair of movie tickets, or other incentive. Renters will love the chance to win something for free, and you’ll love the increased traffic.
When testing out these strategies to increase listing views, have patience. Some strategies can take a while to pay off, but they will reward you if you just keep with it. Property managers, have you tried any unusual techniques to drive traffic to your property listings? If so, what’s worked for you?
The post 7 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Apartment Listings appeared first on The Official AppFolio Blog.