There are more than 40,000 real estate firms competing for leads in the United States. This means you need to know how to find those coveted leads to keep a steady list of clients. 

The good news is the internet offers easy access to real estate leads if you know where to look. This gives you plenty of opportunities to experiment and find the lead generation strategies that work for you. For the best results, you can start with these 10 best ways to find online leads.

Real Estate Leads: Building Relationships

Before we move into the online lead strategies, it's important to remember that every lead generation strategy goes back to relationship building.

While you want to take advantage of online leads, you don't want to ignore regular relationship building. That said, you can start these relationships with online leads in similar ways as face-to-face leads.

44% of home buyers start their search online. This means it's important for a real estate agent to look online for home-buyers and even home-sellers. This also means you need to know where to look for these leads.

How to Find Real Estate Leads Online

To find online leads, you need to make sure you have an established online presence for your real estate business. You don't want to rely on a personal presence. You want to build a professional online presence to create trust.

1. Create a Website

Before you put any other lead generation processes in place, you need a place to funnel these leads. This means making sure you have a professional website. 

Your website should have a blog so you can lead people back to the content relevant to their needs. You can blog about trends and local news, but you also want some evergreen content that you can use in any situation.

To start, you can share content about topics such as:

• Local market conditions

• Info about properties in your area

• Home value calculations

Make sure you provide info about common questions and problems. Also, you want to create an expertise niche for yourself. This will help you stand out.

2. Lead Generation Content

You want to get contact information for new leads. The best way to do this is to create lead generation content they can download for free in exchange for contact info.

You can create an e-book or PDF download of useful info. For example, a home buyer's handbook will provide useful info and make people trust your expertise.

3. Newsletter Campaigns

Once you begin to build up leads, you want to stay in contact with them. You can do this by creating automated email campaigns. 

You can automate to send content based on where leads are in your sales funnel. This keeps you in their mind while providing valuable info. This also helps you see what info people want from you.

4. Use Social Media

You should create business accounts on social media sites to share news and updates as well. Create pages on sites such as

• LinkedIn

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Instagram

• Pinterest

Share some of your evergreen content on social media sites to drive traffic to your website. Share upcoming events in your area to generate interest in those neighborhoods. 

You can even join groups on some of these sites to reach out to home-buyers and investors. This gives you a chance to create further authority by answering questions.

5. Guest Posts

To increase your online exposure you need to create relationships with other realtors or related industries. This allows you to write guest posts for sites that can bring you further leads.

Consider writing guest posts for insurance companies, loan companies, landscapers, or other industries that relate to real estate. Share relevant info that will make people want to learn more about you.

Make sure you keep your branding in mind when writing these posts. You want people to remember you and seek more info.

6. Join Online Forums

Part of relationship building is answering questions so people trust you to help them. You can do this by joining online forums such as Quora. 

Find questions on these forums related to your niche. Make sure you answer their questions, but you can also provide links to your content for further info. Show you know what you're talking about and these people will remember you as an authority.

7. Create Podcasts

For a change of pace, think about creating a local podcast. This allows you to break away from industry content a little and focus on generating interest in your local community.

Share info about local hotspots and events. Show people why they should buy a home in your local area.

8. Paid Advertising

The best way to get noticed online is to show up in the top search results. You can ensure this by paying for advertisement spots. This increases brand awareness and your chances of a click.

You can advertise on real estate listings or search engines. Choose keywords for your niche to grab people's attention and direct leads to your website.

9. Reach Out to For-Sell-By-Owner Listers

People trying to sell their homes on their own will list on real-estate listing sites or sites like Craigslist. You can reach out to these people to share content and stats to show why they should consider using an agent.

Don't be pushy when doing this, but let them know you want to help. Give them specifics of how you can help them get their listing price and move their home quickly.

10. Join the Chamber of Commerce

Joining the chamber of commerce isn't a fully online lead generation strategy, but it does help you increase your online presence. By joining, you can get a listing on their website so people thinking of moving to the area learn who you are.

You can also place ads in the monthly newsletter so other members think of you if they want to buy or sell.

Take Your Business to the Next Step

While you can find real estate leads on your own, it doesn't hurt to have a little help. By joining a brokerage firm you can find more support to help you build a successful real estate business. Check out the other benefits of joining a firm.