I do get online leads without PPC advertising. I'd love to hear more from others who have used PPC campaigns effectively.

No.

You can do CPM, too.

PPC is a tool to drive traffic.  It is not a requirement for online lead generation for any business but it is a way to quickly generate leads.

If you are going to use PPC make sure you send the traffic to a page with lead capture tools in place. Doing this will boost your conversion rate (% of website visitors that leave contact information and become leads).=

Below somebody mentioned seeting up PPC for the luxury market with "no results".  A comment like that does not give you enough information to determine if it could work for you. 

The most important aspect of using PPC (and really any online marketing) is sending traffic directly to a page that has relevant information AND has lead capture tools in place.

Do not setup a specific keyword such as "first time home buyer San Diego" and simply send this traffic to the home page of your realtor site.  This leads to a low conversion rate.  

What you should do is send the traffic to a "real estate squeeze page" that targets first time buyers in San Diego like this example:

http://site4.prophosting.com/

Doing this will result in a much higher conversion rate, lower lead cost, and simply a much more effective online marketing plan.

Using a "squeeze page" like this can be used in many ways.  Here is a good post on how to integrate "real estate squeeze pages" with your core real estate website and blogs.

http://postaprop.com/how-to-real-estate-leads.html

The page above has a good tutorial and examples on how to do it.

Tammie,

We have had no results with PPC in several of the luxury markets that we have tried it on.  It is beneficial in that you can track how many people looked at a particular listing, and how long they stayed on your site.  It also gives you exposure on the Internet.

We have someone we recommend who is an expert at Search Engine Marketing, and his company is constantly monitoring results, looking at words and competing markets, etc.

There was a time when we were managing a Napa office, and we had strong leads that actually converted into closed escrows.  We averaged 3-4 a quarter above $800,000.  Now I think there is so much competion for leads and selling them to agents, that it is no longer viable.  A

PPC necessary - NO

Can PPC be beneficial -YES

Are there better ways - very much yes.

This week I will publish the results of something new I've tried that could prove extremely beneficial for those who have advanced marketing insight.

I have not paid for clicks . I will look for the answers.

No. I have never done PPC and I get about 5 appts/week online.