4 Creative Ways to Monetize Your Real Estate Website

As you know, you need a real estate website in order to be competitive in today’s market. However, to maximize the value of your site, you need to move beyond just posting property listings. There are additional opportunities for making money. Do you know how to take advantage of them?

4 Creative Ways to Monetize Your Real Estate Website

Real estate agents might have months where they bring in five figures, and then there can be months where they bring in nothing and lose money. Because of the fickle nature of real estate, it’s always a good idea to have multiple streams of revenue in place.

Thankfully, your website offers this opportunity. Here are some methods worth trying.

1. Sell ad space.

A real estate website is an ideal place to sell advertisements. The sort of visitors you attract are often in the market for things like home services, furniture, financial assistance, and other things that come with buying or selling a home. From a business standpoint, you can pitch your site to advertisers and bring in some steady, residual income.

Related: 6 Steps to Build a WordPress Website for Your Real Estate Business (in Under 2 Hours!)

According to this article from IncomeStore.com, there are two popular pricing options. The first is to receive a flat rate once per month. The second is to receive an escalating amount per 1,000 visitors your site receives. The benefit of the former is that you get your money no matter what. The advantage of the latter is that you get rewarded for growing your traffic.

2. Try out premium content.

One really popular method for monetizing websites these days is to create premium content in addition to the free content you offer on a regular basis. This premium content can sit behind a membership paywall and may include more detailed, specific information that readers are willing to pay for.

Since most people aren’t going to pay for access to basic blog posts or newsletters—unless there’s something of considerable value—you’ll probably need to invest in webinars, courses, and multimedia content that really stand out amid the noise. Think quality over quantity. A single webinar can net you more than four or five webinars combined if the content is unique and actionable.

3. Leverage email lists.

A third option is to focus all of your energy and attention on building an email list through ethical mean, such as an opt-in form on your homepage. An email list can provide you with a lot of flexibility and leverage in the future. You can create a monthly newsletter and sell ad space, temporarily sell the list to relevant marketers, or generate real estate leads for your listings.

It takes time to build an email list, but if you have substantial traffic, it’s much easier. You’ll need to give people a reason to believe and keep the information you request to a minimum. This article has some great tips for increasing subscribers.

4. Consider consulting services.

Have you ever thought about consulting? If you have lots of industry experience and know what you’re talking about, you might be able to sell your time and educate those who are relatively green. All you have to do is add a tab or create a section on your homepage that advertises your services.

You’ll have to be smart about your consulting, though. You probably don’t want to consult people locally or they’ll become your competition. It’s better to do remote consulting with people who are in other markets.

Maximize Your Income

Never settle for one stream of income, especially as a real estate professional who works on commission. By spreading yourself out and aiming to bring in multiple streams via your website, you can enjoy a much more stable and healthy income. Get to work!

Anything you’ve tried not on this list?

Be sure to mention it below!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.