If you’re in the process of building your first realtor website or if you’re still on the fence thinking about having one, this article has got you covered. Everyone on this planet wants to own real estate. Nothing says “I’ve got it made” than owning a piece of land.
But it’s also the most expensive investment a person can make. Buyers, as well as sellers of property, want to make sure their interests are served by the best realtors in the business. And if you want to be seen as a trusted realtor, you must own a piece of real estate on the Internet by having your own website.
What Are The Benefits Of Having A Realtor Website?
Ask yourself, “Where do you go to find the goods and services you need for life and work?”
It’s safe to say that almost 90% of you will say “The Internet”.
Google, the world’s biggest search engine, processes 3.5 billion searches every day which translates to 1.2 trillion searches per year. Search remains the most popular online activity with consumers constantly looking for information on specific products and services.
And that includes buying real estate property.
According to a 2020 study conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 50% of homeowners found and bought their properties from a realtor website.
Thus, if you don’t have a realtor website, you’re missing out on income-generating opportunities. And while you might be active on Facebook and other social media platforms, the benefits for your professional career are greater when you have a realtor website.
1. Showcase Your Listing
You’ll never beat the site traffic of Facebook which attracts 1.96 billion users every day. However, you’ll be competing with other realtors who are promoting their listings on social media.
With a website, the attention is all on your listing. You can showcase the properties you’re handling without having to worry about potential buyers getting distracted by other realtors.
2. Stay Open 24/7, 365 Days a Year
Your real estate agency might close down for the day but your realtor website stays open 24/7, 365 days a year. As such, you won’t miss out on potential opportunities to sign up clients or get new property listings.
3. Generate Leads
For realtors, networking is a must. That’s how they generate leads. While you can continue to attend networking events and press palms with potential clients, your website can generate leads while you sleep.
If people like what they see when they land on your realtor website, they’ll sign up for your newsletter or open a user account with you.
4. Build Your Professional Brand
A website shows you’re invested in your career as a realtor. Prospective clients will see you as a realtor who’s confident in the quality and diversity of his listing as well as your ability to find the best properties at the right price.
5. Diversify Your Social Media Marketing Strategies
Instead of using social media marketing as your primary strategy for closing real estate deals, use it to drive traffic to your realtor website.
Think of the realtor website as the central hub of operations. Everything that a client needs to know about buying/selling property is there.
Open other social media platforms and always include the link to your website on your posts. Embed social media icons on every page of your website so that site visitors can check out your other social media platforms.
10 Qualities Of A Top Performing Realtor Website
Before we go through the 10 qualities of a top-performing realtor website, you might be asking yourself if you should use a free template and build the site on your own.
While you can do this, we recommend hiring the services of a professional web designer. Remember, the website is an investment. You want to get it right the first time.
And if problems arise, a professional website designer such as Mountaintop Web Design can resolve these issues right away so you won’t lose business opportunities.
Now let’s find out the top 10 qualities that will make your realtor website payout dividends.
1. Mobile Responsive
It should go without saying that your realtor website needs to be mobile responsive but we still see websites that aren’t responsive.
In 2022, mobile devices accounted for 58.99% of all website traffic. Mobile responsiveness has also been included as a ranking factor by Google. If your website isn’t responsive to mobile devices, it will be slammed down the rankings by the Internet’s biggest search engine.
More importantly, mobile responsiveness improves User Experience (UX). Do you enjoy zooming in and out of the screen to view the content? Neither do your potential clients.
Mobile responsive design allows your web pages to stack up nicely on any size of screen. It also makes scrolling and navigation much easier.
2. Live Search Feature
Make it easier for your site users to find the property they are looking for by incorporating a live search feature in your realtor website.
Site users will be even more impressed if you make the search feature customizable to fit the needs of potential buyers.
For example, you can include the following search parameters:
- Location of neighborhood
- Price range
- Number of bedrooms
- Number of bathrooms
- Availability of a garage
- Proximity to the Business District
- Nearby schools
You might also want to include information such as the number of months the property has been listed on the market and the number of owners the house has gone through.
3. Interactive Property Listing
Sure, lockdowns have been lifted and vaccines, including booster shots, are readily available. Still, COVID-19 remains a serious concern as scientists have discovered that the virus continues to mutate into variants and spread.
Prospective clients will appreciate your decision to make your property listing interactive by incorporating features such as 360-degree imaging and AR/VR experience.
Give the site user a feel of what it’s like going around each room in the homes in your listing. Let them experience what it’s like to be standing in the garden and looking around the scenery.
An interactive property listing will create greater interest in the properties you’re managing.
4. Beautiful Images and High-Resolution Videos
When it comes to property, the first attraction is physical. In order to trigger a strong, lasting, first impression on the site user, you must use beautiful, high-resolution images and videos.
Some social media and property listing sites have limitations on the quality of pictures and videos you can upload. If traffic is heavy, the listing site could experience buffering issues and not load right away.
A good idea would be to use one of the prime properties in your listing as the image on your home page. Add to that, a 360-degree or AR/VR interactive feature to immediately elicit a “Wow” from the site visitor.
Check your analytics. What are the most popular search parameters indicated by your site visitors?
Let’s assume that 90% of your site visitors are looking for homes in the US$100,000 to US$200,000 price range with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a 2-car garage.
Hire a professional videographer to shoot a video on houses in your listing that meet these search parameters. Upload the video to your YouTube channel and embed its link on the homepage of your website.
This will make it easier and more convenient for site visitors to find the dream home they’ve been looking for.
5. Customer Support Features
Once someone lands on your home page, don’t let him go! Keep him on your realtor website by having customer support features a click away.
For sure, the users of your website have a lot of questions:
- How do I get started?
- Can I get financing for your properties?
- Is it a good idea to get a loan considering that the inflation rate is rising?
- Can you recommend a good Mortgage Broker?
- Do you have an updated list of bank loan rates?
- Can I go for property auctions?
- What are your commission rates?
- What documents are needed to process a sale?
You can help the site user find the answers to these questions by having the following features available on your website:
- Chat Support
- Mortgage Calculator
- FAQs
- Email Support
- Contact Forms
- Guides for Buyers and Sellers
- Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) on select neighborhoods
- Home Valuation calculator
- Updated information on the real estate market
- Lifestyle Guides
It’s not only the site user who will thank you for having customer support functions available. Google might give you a nudge up the search rankings because metrics such as the bounce rate and time spent per page are in your favor.
6. Compelling CTAs and Lead Capture Forms
A Call to Action (CTA) is a command or an action that you want your users to take after seeing your content. The simple rule when creating a CTA is that it must be clear and to the point. The reader should not second guess what you want him to do.
For example, beautiful images of homes you’re selling in specific neighborhoods can have the CTA “For Sale” or condominiums might have “Pre-Selling – Reserve Now”.
Lead Capture forms are subscriptions to your monthly newsletter. These forms must be short and easy to fill out.
To encourage more site users to sign up for a newsletter, give them something valuable in exchange for their personal information. Examples of encouraging giveaways are e-books and guaranteed “early bird” invites to auctions and pre-selling events.
7. Optimized Blogs
77% of Internet users read blogs because they are a wonderful source of valuable information. Blogging is a proven way of driving traffic to your website. You can publish them on your various social media pages with a link to your website to make it easier for readers to learn more about your real estate business.
For your blogs to get found on the Internet, they must be optimized with high search volume keywords. In the real estate industry, popular keywords include “real estate”, “real estate property”, “buy real estate”, “affordable property”, “wealth creation”, and “property management” to name a few.
By adding these high search volume keywords to your blogs, it will be easier for the web crawl bots to find and index your content. To learn how to do keyword research, read our article “How To Do Free Keyword Research For SEO That Delivers Results For Your Business”.
What topics should you blog about?
- Restaurant reviews
- Best activities to do around the area
- Tips on transportation or getting around the city
- Real estate property trends
- Tips on real estate financing
- Finding your dream home
The golden rule in blogging is to write for your audience. Blog about topics that interest your audience. The blogs must be fresh, unique, informative, engaging, and useful.
8. An About Us Page That Resonates
The biggest mistake website owners make when writing an About Us page is writing about them. If that sounds contrarian, it’s not.
Just like your blogs, your About Us page should be about you – and how you can help the site users find the properties they are looking for.
Sure, it will be comforting for the reader to know that you’re a licensed realtor who sold 500 properties in 2020 and was awarded “Top Realtor”. But how do these bits of information help the reader find the type of property he’s looking for?
An effective approach to crafting an About Us page is to share your story. Here’s an example:
“I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Back in 2001, I had to sell my home because I couldn’t keep up with mortgage payments. After the sale, I used the proceeds to close out my home loan and look for a new home that was within my budget. I was surprised that with a bit of patience, you can find a better home without breaking the bank. Since then, I decided to become a realtor. Not just your ordinary realtor, but a good licensed realtor who can help people find their dream home without going through the same nightmare I did.”
Nice story, right?
If you’re a first-time home buyer, you’d want to get in touch with this realtor because he understands your situation.
9. Simple and Easy-to-Navigate Web Pages
People don’t have the patience to figure out your web pages. If the site user can’t find what he’s looking for within seconds, he’ll click out. The ideal web page is one that has a simple and navigable design. But some web designers compromise simplicity with more elegance.
For example, incorporating a menu bar that’s hardly seen in order to introduce more space on the page. A site user has to click on an arrow to pull out the menu icon. A web designer shouldn’t assume that all site users know what the arrow is for.
Keep your website simple and easy to navigate. It will get the job done for you and your site users.
10. Client Testimonials
Testimonials are proof of your effectiveness as a realtor. These are perceived as honest, sincere, and given willingly by your clients. Testimonials can be as powerful as word-of-mouth advertising.
Present your client testimonials on the home page because this is the main landing page of your website. Include a recent picture of your client and some professional information.
Put in as many testimonials as possible. The testimonials can be presented in a vanishing slide or as part of a scroll-down menu. It would also be a good idea to create a unique page for your testimonials.
Conclusion
We listed the 10 qualities of a top-performing realtor website. However, these 10 qualities aren’t must-haves. Sure, it would be great to be able to tick off the boxes when designing your first website but you have to consider your budget.
Yes, owning a website is an investment. And as the old saying goes, the “higher the investment, the higher the reward”. The great thing about websites is that you can get amazing results with just the bare-bones minimum features.
If your budget is tight, start off with a basic website with the following features:
- Mobile responsiveness
- Property Listing
- Blog Page
- About Us Page
- Contact Us
- CTAs
We can highlight your client testimonials on the home page and use a chat plugin that connects your website to Facebook Messenger. Do you have a YouTube channel? We can play your videos on loop simply by embedding a link on the home page of your website.
Building your realtor website is the same as building a home. You start out with a solid foundation and slowly build up as the needs of your family increase. As your real estate business grows, so will your realtor website.
Are you fully invested in having a website for your real estate business? Give us a call or drop us an email. We’ll design a website that will make your clients feel at home.
And if you enjoyed this article, feel free to share it with friends in the real estate business who are thinking about starting their own websites.
