Every now and again we come across listings that have been successful in capturing a good amount of leads, and we like to highlight those ads to show you the results you could be receiving for your own listing.

This successful ad comes from Arlington, Virginia. Along with our standard package, this customer purchased our Premier Exposure upgrade for $29.99, which places his listing on some of the top directories such as RentalHomesPlus, HomeTownRent and HotPads.

But what really makes this property stand out above the rest is the quality with which it was made. Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating your ad:

• A list of property features and amenities – anything that will entice potential renters to take the next step toward your listing should be included in your ad.
• Competitive pricing – based on results from Craigslist for listings with similar features, this property certainly stands out from the crowd. Does yours?
• At least five photos that highlight key rooms in your property (kitchen, master bedroom, master bathroom, any special rooms, etc.) – if you have more, don’t stop at five photos. The more you include, the better your listing will be received.
• Both phone and email contact information – a means of reaching the property manager is essential. A second contact outlet just gives more opportunities for people to reach you.

If you’re not receiving the desired outcome from your rental ad, consider the key details that may be getting left out. Taking these factors into consideration can only help improve your listing’s success, so that the next time you have a property for rent you may just be seeing similar results to those above.

Click here to visit the listing.

At least five quality photos that cover the most important aspects of the property. A property description that is pleasing to the eye (little or no grammatical errors, not overly lengthy or too short) and contains information that is relevant to the renter’s needs. This customer purchased our Premier Exposure upgrade (an additional $29.99), which syndicates your listing to even more directories. View Listing

Contact information is easily visible upon seeing the ad, making it as easy as possible for the renter to contact the property manager. Property address and other property information is clearly visible on the ad and filled out completely (no missing information from the address or contact). The listing is priced competitively when compared with other properties in the same area, giving the renter further incentive. View Listing

All the essential information is located right in the property description area, so renters don’t need to search for it. Both a phone number and email address are included, giving the renter more than one outlet of connection if one is preferred. Features and amenities are included in the ad, which gives the renter easy access to all the perks of the property without having to contact anyone. View Listing

Because our prices are based on a flat fee rather than a pay-per-lead fee, lead capture like those above is attainable without breaking your budget. If you aren’t getting the results you were hoping for in your rental listing, we encourage you to consider these tips when creating your next ad.

Watch our quick search story to see just a few of things the RentShout.com rental advertising platform can do you you.

In case you missed that, this ad attracted 6 email leads and 45 phone leads… not bad for a single rental ad! Now let’s take a look at how this advertisement succeeded:

• Plenty of well-taken photos of the property.
• Detailed description combined with informative links about the property and local area.
• Easy access to contact information (phone and email).
• Competitive price and offering for the area.
• Exposure on multiple places around the web (via RentShout’s optimization and syndication).

Now, that last point is key! You never know where your next lead will be searching, so it is important to be in as many places online as you can. Take a peek at a few of the places this ad attracted leads from:

How are your rental advertising efforts measuring up? If you find yourself struggling to attract leads to your rental ads, be sure to keep these tips in mind!

Example #1:

Duluth, GA – Home for Rent
3 Bedroom, 2.5 Bath
$1050 per month

15 email leads
1 phone lead
1 click-to-call lead

Example #2:

Bentonville, Arkansas – Home for Rent
3 Bedroom, 2 Bath
$800 per month

5 email leads
13 phone leads

As you can see from the amount and types of leads each property received, there is no “one way” that prospects will contact you. The first rental property even made click-to-call available, giving their ad maximum accessibility. Of course, if you are going to allow people to contact you via phone, email, or text message, you should also make sure to have an efficient lead follow-up process for each method of contact. A lead left hanging is a lost lead!

Here at RentShout we aim to give property managers a large range of exposure by advertising your listings on top rental directories, video portals and social networks.  We are continually on the lookout for new places we can to advertise your rentals and feel HomeTownRent is a great extension to our network.

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So, how do you get your property noticed in the midst of all the competition? Here’s what one rental marketer did that earned him more than 30 quality leads in 30 days in the competitive Washington, D.C. area:

• Beautiful (and plenty of) photos – This ad displays six beautiful and effective photos of the unit. The photos are not just a close-up of the bathroom sink and empty bedrooms, rather, they show off the interior, views, and amenities (such as stainless steel appliances). Our stats show that ads with 5 or more photos perform considerably better than those with only a few (or no) photos. Potential renters can fall in love with your unit before they ever set foot in the door.
• Desirable description – Using language that draws the renter in to learn more, this ad makes great use of the unit description. Phrases such as, “Large condominium unit straddling the hot neighborhoods of U Street and Columbia Heights”, and “Short distance to two Metro stations, Starbucks, Target…”, make this ad stand out from the competition. The description also details the unit’s many desirable features, such as hardwood floors and in-suite full baths.
• Price that renters can’t refuse – In this economy, price is more important to most renters than many other factors; just having a comparable price may not be enough. This 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit is renting for $950 per month. In the Washington D.C. area, you’d be hard pressed to find a comparable unit for less than $1100 per month. This ad’s price isn’t comparable… it is much better. That’s an offer that few renters can refuse.

There are other aspects that make this ad successful (such as distribution to several online portals, helpful links to local information, desirable location, etc.), but the three tips outlined above are the reason that renters not only viewed the ad, but took the next step to email or call the property owner.

Through market research and feedback from our loyal customers, RentShout has concluded that a reliable flat fee pricing model is the best way to maximize profits from apartment advertising. Let’s take a deeper look at the three pricing models:

Pay-Per-Lead

Paying for every lead you generate can be very expensive for apartment marketers, and oftentimes, it was cheaper using the Pay-Per-Lease model. One problem with Pay-Per-Lead is the conversion rate. If it takes 20 leads to generate a lease, then, depending on how much you pay for each lead, it can become a very expensive marketing strategy.

Many marketers who use the Pay-Per-Lead model have complained that the leads generated are often unresponsive or not valid. It is difficult to track whether or not the lead is genuine, and paying per lead may cause you to purchase many invalid or unresponsive leads.

Leads that have expressed an interest in your property, have most likely also expressed an interest with many other properties as well. If the lead has already made a connection with a different property by the time you contact them, you end up paying for a dead lead.

This is why the pay per lead model can be very expensive.

Pay-Per-Lease

Some apartment marketers who are new to online marketing may prefer the Pay-Per-Lease model, where they only pay if the lead signs the lease.

Most Pay-Per-Lease models cost $300+ per lease, and oftentimes it is difficult to track if the lead actually came from that source. This can result in paying for leases where the lead actually found out about the apartment from another source entirely.

If you have a competitive property with high lead conversion, you will most likely be able to close a lease with only a few leads. In this case, using the Pay-Per-Lease model would be a bad investment compared to a low, flat fee. If your rental property isn’t offering anything competitive and there are several other similar rentals on the market in your area, the Pay-Per-Lease model may be better, since it will likely take longer to lease your property.

Flat Fee Model

The flat fee pricing method has proven to be the most effective for helping our customers market their apartments. This model requires you to pay a fixed monthly fee to market a property. Our prices range from $29.99 to $89.99 per property and, on average, generate 10 to 20+ property leads for our customers each month.

If you break down the figures, this turns out to be much cheaper than $10 to $30 per lead, which is what the majority of Pay-Per-Lead models cost. So, marketing your apartments with a flat fee pricing model could save you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in the long run.

The reason why most experienced apartment marketers prefer the flat fee marketing is because they test their sales process, which is crucial to running a successful apartment marketing campaign. You need to know which apartments are popular with tenants, what to write in your ads to generate a good response, how to present the pictures of your apartment, and how to effectively follow up with leads.

Once you have the process fine-tuned, apartment marketers will find that paying a flat fee to market each of their properties is much cheaper than paying per lead or paying per lease. They know from past experience that they don’t need to market their apartments for more than a month to acquire a tenant.

Here is an example of how a flat fee pricing model can help you maximize your profits:

You have a beautiful apartment of 10 units to rent out. Using the Pay-Per-Lead model, you pay an average of $20 per lead.

You manage to get a lease from 15 leads, which translates into $300 for a tenant. So if we do the math, it will cost you $3,000 to rent out all your apartment units.

Using the Pay-Per-Lease model, renting out all 10 units of your apartment will cost $3,000 if the price per lease is $300.

In this scenario, using the Pay-Per-Lease model is the same as the Pay-Per-Lead marketing method. It is only when you don’t get a tenant with every 15 leads, that the Pay-Per-Lease model is preferable.

For the flat fee marketing method, it will cost you $89.99 for a month’s advertisement at RentShout.com

No matter how many leads you generate and how many leases you successfully make, your advertisement costs will remain at $89.99. Experienced business owners who that know that their ads will draw a good response and that their properties are hot, will use a flat fee model to maximize their profits.

It is not uncommon to generate more than 15 leads using RentShout.com’s marketing services in a month. This works out to be $5.99 per lead which is much, much cheaper than using the other pricing models.

The key to making an advertisement strategy work is testing. Make sure your property is popular with renters, your ad attracts attention and makes prospects call you for details, and that you know how to follow up with the leads generated.

If you can grasp the above concepts, a flat fee pricing model can minimize your marketing expenses a lot. If you are new to online rental marketing, you can also use a flat fee model to test how well people respond to your ad and how well the online rental company promotes your listings.

• Dress professionally
• Allow pets
• Be organized and have procedures in place
• Show that you care for the property and the tenants will care too
• Offer a discount for a multi-year lease and/or for payroll/bank draft setup
• Let them know that you will be accessing the property every other month for a maintenance checkup
• Send them birthday cards
• Include a washer and dryer

Read the entire post from http://www.trumpuniversity.com/blog/post/2009/12/10-ways-to-attract-good-tenants.cfm

Through our network we were able to generate 15 quality leads in one month to this Ft Lauderdale, FL apartment complex.  How do we determine a quality lead?

• An email inquiry that was filled out with a valid name, phone number, email address and comments
• A phone call that either made connection with the member or left a message lasting at least 20 seconds.

So how did we accomplish this?

• We created search engine optimized landing pages for the community and each available unit, which drew in organic search traffic. Since over 70% of renters start their next rental search using the top search engines, our specialists excel in creating landing pages that rank very high in search engine page results, which directly translates to more leads for our clients.
• We syndicated the available units to 60+ directories, which drew in leads from various sources.
• We created videos of the floorplans and posted them to 10+ video portals, which drew in traffic from the video portals.

Best of all: WE DON’T CHARGE PER LEAD.  We charge a low flat monthly fee that allows you to benefit from unlimited leads without having to worry about the high cost of a per lead payment model.

So again, we can toot our horn about all the great features we offer (which we do have some pretty cool features ), but what it comes down to are the leads.  You can have all the coolest features there is to offer, but if you can’t generate leads or show ROI, then what is the true value of all those nifty features?

So here’s to us tooting our horn on generating quality leads for our members.