Untapped Network: Getting Real Estate Leads from Quora

Trying to calculate your lead ROI can feel like a Chinese puzzle.

Did I snag the right price for the right zip code?

How many other realtors are chatting up my leads right now?

Is it just me, or is lead quality dropping?

The harsh reality is, there will always be a love/hate relationship between agents and MLS sites, and with the cost of paid advertising trending upward, your lead generation strategy needs multiple legs to stand on.

Enter, Quora.

What Is Quora?

Quora is a question-and-answer site where any online user can go to ask literally any question. Sound familiar? However, unlike Google, Quora answers longer, more specific, more conversation questions by matching them with the best answers from expert users.

The site was created in 2009 by former facebook CTO, Adam D’Angelo and former facebook engineer, Charlie Cheever. Today it has over 200 million monthly unique visitors. Quora’s Q&A entries regularly show up on google’s page 1, and some are even being re-published by major sites like Forbes and Inc.

Sounds pretty fancy, right? But at it’s core, Quora is beautifully simple: Users post questions and other users answer them. The best answers get ‘upvotes’, the irrelevant ones get ‘downvotes’.

In real estate, we hear it all the time; work your referrals, connect with your sphere of influence — use your community to get low cost, great quality leads.

Well, Quora is that community…online.

And the best part? It’s completely free.

Why Use Quora to Generate Real Estate Leads?

More and more home buyers and sellers are flocking to Quora to get relevant answers to their specific real estate questions. And of course, for the modern millennial, Quora is a natural part of the process.

Tons of companies already use Quora to generate an absolutely insane amount of leads. And sure, right now the majority of power users are from SaaS companies and startups, but plenty of independent contractors and local businesses are scoring leads from Quora every day.

The Benefits of Using Quora for Lead Generation

In real estate, there’s a lot of talk about lead generation, and not nearly enough about cultivation and follow up (except here of course, we can drone on about follow up forever over here).

But the truth is, more of your time should be spent cultivating leads, not just generating leads.

That’s why we love Quora. It helps you move organically from lead generation to actually building a relationship with those new leads.

Here are some of the benefits you get on Quora that you don’t get anywhere else:

• Leads are pre-qualified because they’re actively seeking detailed info on buying or selling a home
• You instantly build authority and boost your chances of being seen with every question you answer
• Other leads with the same or similar question see your name, profile and answer and can choose to follow you
• Your traffic compounds as you gain more followers

Because the system is entirely merit-based, all you need is a few great answers, and you could see a steady stream of quality leads for years to come.

How to Get Started on Quora

Getting started on Quora is just like signing up anywhere else. You can do it in a click by using your Gmail or Facebook profile.

But once you’re in, take heed. Quora can be a MAJOR time suck.

There’s endless questions — things you never knew you wanted an answer to. For the newly initiated, it’s incredibly easy to get swallowed up.

(Just check out some of the strangely alluring topics they serve up in their email digest. What IS the most painful sensation humans can feel?)

Stay focused. The first thing you’ll be asked to do is choose your topics. Even here, it’s important to be careful.

If you’re dedicated to using Quora for real estate lead generation and lead generation only, make sure you stay firmly focused on the topics relevant to potential buyers and sellers.

Even within a topic, users will sometime ask you to answer a question that isn’t directly relevant to your business. If it’s a controversial topic, or one that’s generating a lot of engagement, you’ll probably be tempted to chime in. Resist the urge and stay focused on answering only the most relevant questions that apply directly to your prospects and you’ll be rewarded with more questions from quality leads who see you as an expert in your niche.

How to Find the Best Questions

There are a TON of questions on Quora, and not all are created equal. If you know what to look for, certain questions can bring in a major boost in organic traffic (and leads!) to your site.

Start by looking for questions that have been asked repeatedly. If a question’s been asked a few times, chances are the answers (both on Quora and Google) aren’t that great.

If you really want to go for gold, there are some great user-friendly tools that can help you choose the questions with the highest potential for organic traffic.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an SEO tool that helps you boost your google ranking and lets you peek in on your competitors so you can do what you need to do to outrank them.

Their basic package starts at $99 per month, but you can take it for a free two-week spin to see if you like it first.

Here’s how to use Ahrefs to hone in on high-traffic Quora topics:

Start by entering ‘quora.com’ in Ahref’s Site Explorer.

Next, click on organic keywords.

From there, in search results, you can filter the keywords Quora ranks for.

To come up with relevant key words, think about what your target audience might be searching for. For example, Austin home buyers might search ‘school taxes Austin’ or ‘property taxes Austin’.

The filtered results will show any Quora questions that rank organically in Google’s top 50.

Now your goal is to provide the best possible to these questions. Bonus points if you do it first via published content (e.g. blog post, e-book, etc.) on your own website and then include that as a value-added bonus to your awesome answer on Quora.

SEMRush

SEMRush is a very similar tool to Ahrefs, and with their basic package at $99.95 per month, the choice will ultimately come down to personal preference.

This video from GrowthHackers provides step-by-step instructions for how to use SEMRush and Quora to rank #1 in Google. (Hint: The process is very similar to what you would do in Ahrefs.)

Moz

Moz is another top SEO tool that can be used to find killer traffic-generation questions on Quora. They might be the better choice if you’re completely green to the world of SEO because of their commitment to offering tools and training for beginners.

They also offer a free 30-day trial, after that the cost is $149 per month. Moz also has a free keyword tool that’s great if you just want quick insight on which keywords to include in your Quora answer, blog post or other type of inbound content.

Quick Note about Your Profile

Now that you’re ready to start sharing your knowledge, let’s talk about your Quora profile.

Quora power users recommend setting up a fully fleshed-out profile, including; a detailed ‘About Me’ section, your interests, schools and colleges, and previous companies. That stuff’s all great, but if you just want to get up and running, focus on nailing the tagline first.

The tagline shows up next to your name, on the top of every answer. It’s what lets people know you’re an authority with a credible answer to their question.

4 Simple Rules for Scoring Leads on Quora

Rule #1 – Keep it real

Quora isn’t the place for a hard sell. Genuine engagement is key.

Start by answering a few questions and don’t worry about making it perfect. Just give the asker some real meat-and-potatoes value, spelling mistakes and all.

Do this every day for 2 to 4 weeks. Just try answering one question a day. If there are no relevant questions, set a timer for a max. 15-minute browsing session. This is a great way to test the waters while acclimating yourself to the vibe of the platform, while slowly building your authority.

Rule #2 – Never, EVER drop a link and walk away

The temptation is real — especially if you’ve been working hard to create stellar content that answers that question to a T. No matter what, DO NOT get lazy and post a link as your answer.

Quora is community-driven, meaning users are looking for answers right there, on Quora. As such, Quora’s definition of spam may be a bit different from what you’d imagine:

“On Quora, spam is defined as one or more questions, answers, posts, comments, or messages whose purpose appears to be to direct traffic to external commercial sites while providing little to no value back to the Quora Community.”

And they WILL delete your answer if they think it’s spam.

But never fear. If you have a great piece of content that answers the question, you can totally include it. Just make sure you do a good job summarizing the main points in your Quora answer  so the reader gets a solid answer right then and there, without having to click through.

Add the link to your answer wherever it feels natural, but don’t give a strong call to action. (Remember, they can always come back to it if they need to. Now they know where to find you!)

Here’s an example of a great answer from Canadian broker, Bryan Jaskolka. It’s the top answer for this question, not because it links to a high-value blog post, but because it looks like one.

Again, don’t worry about making it perfect. A great 200-word answer with no photos or subheads can do just as well as well as a long, visual one — all that matter is that the value is there.

Rule #3 – Get creative

At its core, Quora is a conversational platform, so don’t be afraid to open up. Tell personal stories about how you made your own real estate decisions. Go ahead and rant a little.

Some of the most popular answers on Quora are the most controversial. What do potential home buyers and sellers need to know that nobody else is brave enough to tell them? Work that into your answer.

It goes without saying that, as with all things online, you must be mindful that this is a public forum, but that shouldn’t prevent you from being transparent and sharing some real value. After all, that’s what a great personal brand is all about.

Rule #4 – Get competitive

What many users overlook, is that you can actually use Quora to strengthen your unique value and inform your content marketing to make it stand out far above the competition.

Because Quora hasn’t completely blown up yet, it still feels intimate and conversational. You can get unparalleled insight into your prospect’s deep wants and fears by paying attention to the questions they ask. As other real estate experts answer those q’s, you’ll be able to see the differentiators between you and them right there in black and white.

Use those insights to inform your sales and marketing strategy and convert more leads.

For example, you could create an awesome ebook based on the most popular questions and post it in your answers and bio. Then you can channel those leads into your facebook group or email list for an awesome increase in quality leads who already know, like and trust you.

Another Quora user may even see your content and use it themselves in an answer to a question. Whenever someone links to your site or blog, Quora sends a trackback and gives a big boost to your SEO.

Right now, Quora truly is an untapped network for real estate. But as with all things new and exciting, you can expect the herd to arrive eventually. The earlier you get in, the quicker you’ll see the benefits build up.

‍