What is multifamily PPC (pay per click)? How does it work? What is a conversion?

Multifamily PPC is a very complex and often misunderstood component of a successful apartment marketing strategy.

But let’s skip past all the humdrum, and answer the questions you really want to ask, but rarely do.

I’ve heard it’s cheap. Is that true?

The nature of multifamily PPC is that you can spend as much as you want. So if you’re looking to go low-budget, that’s technically possible. The real question is one of ROI (return on investment).

Maybe you can spend 10 cents to make $10, or you can spend $1,000 to make $100,000. Which would you prefer?

I’ve heard it’s expensive. Is that true?

See above. Your budget drives your cost, up or down.

I just got this card in the mail for free AdWords. Can’t I just do it myself?

Absolutely! It is definitely possible to do Google AdWords on your own. However, working with a digital marketing agency brings the benefit of experience. An agency can integrate AdWords into a broader apartment marketing strategy which may include other media. That leaves you to do what you’re skilled and experienced in: running your business!

What’s the biggest mistake I can make in multifamily PPC?

The biggest pitfall in multifamily PPC is throwing money blindly at bids with no consideration of landing pages. In all online advertising campaigns, landing pages play an obvious role in the magic alchemy that changes traffic into profit, but many advertisers don’t realize how important it is to optimize landing pages.

The result can be an improved quality score, a reduced cost-per-click, a higher click-through-rate, and a lower cost-per-acquisition. In a nutshell, you can waste a lot of money if you don’t get your landing pages right.

This is an extremely common mistake. And an extremely pricey one.

Isn’t multifamily PPC just a scam?

Ouch! I’d love to pretend that I have no idea what you’re talking about, but truth be told, I get it.

Despite perceptions, the bar for creating an AdWords account is very low. And there’s no shortage of bottom feeders that are willing to use the ease and mystery to further their goals of taking your money, letting you wonder if it’s even doing anything. But resist the urge to write off multifamily PPC entirely.

Why? Because even if there are bottom feeders that abuse it, multifamily PPC is very productive when used properly.

Choose a multifamily PPC manager that has integrity. They’re handling your money, after all. And yes, you can use PPC and integrity in the same sentence. Crazy, I know.

What’s in it for you?

So, if PPC gets such a bad rap, why bother?

Multifamily PPC is an essential component of your broader apartment marketing strategy, and you could miss out on some great opportunities for growth. Roughly a third of online consumers use the internet every day to search for local businesses. That’s a significant amount of potential traffic for your property, especially if your multifamily website link is prominently displayed at the top of search results.

And multifamily PPC doesn’t just garner fast results — it quickly pulls in traffic for your multifamily website as a whole. Paid ads do not directly contribute to your Google search ranking, but they do increase the number of clicks your multifamily website gets.

Over time, this increase in clicks can contribute to higher organic rankings, and thus more apartment leads for your property. 

So, do you think you should still count out multifamily PPC?