If you’re a realtor and you don’t have a website to support your real estate business, you could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table. And don’t think that advertising your properties on social media is enough.
Real estate property is probably the most expensive asset that a person can invest in. It will take more than just a few social media posts to convince the potential buyer that he can trust his aspirations to buy a new home with you.
Buyers will need more information about the properties you are selling. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter don’t have enough features to allow you to showcase the strengths of the properties on your list.
Similarly, buyers will want more information about you as the realtor. Who are you? What are your accomplishments as a realtor? How do you approach property selling?
“Can I trust you with finding me the right property at the best price?”
The Real Estate Industry Before The Age Of Digital
Before the Internet, realtors would post ads about the properties they were selling in the newspapers. People who were in the market for properties would comb through these ads and contact the listed broker if they were interested.
A realtor could be driving from one listed property to another to meet prospective buyers while inquiries would be recorded in his office landline. After a long day going on “house trippings”, the realtor would check on the phone messages and prepare the itinerary for the following day.
The realtor’s daily agenda could be packed with meetings and presentations for weeks or months on end and still no new property sale.
It’s not realistic to expect a sale every day. As mentioned, investing in real estate property isn’t cheap. It could well be the most expensive asset an individual could acquire in his lifetime.
However, as long as the realtor continues to push forward his brand and his business every day, he’ll be taking the necessary steps to eventually close a sale. He can’t do what he needs to enhance his brand and capitalize on market opportunities if he’s constantly on the move.
Having a real estate website will do just that.
5 Reasons Why A Realtor Needs A Real Estate Website
According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 97% of people who are in the market for property used the Internet as their primary tool for search.
When a potential buyer does an Internet search for properties in the market such as “homes for sale near me”, Google will retrieve the URLs of real estate websites that list houses for sale near your area.
The constant innovations in mobile digital technology have made it easier and more convenient for potential buyers to find real estate property information on the Internet.
It’s highly unlikely that a Facebook post will be included in the search results because Google doesn’t consider social media pages as “authority sites”.
Social media marketing is best used as a tool for driving traffic to your website. But the key information about the properties in your list must be organized and thoroughly presented on your website to help you close real estate deals.
Here are 5 reasons why a realtor needs to invest in a real estate website.
1. Personal Branding
Similar to other industries, real estate has its share of bad eggs. You might have come across stories from people about their horrible experiences with real estate agents.
There are stories of agents who are “pushy” or use hard-sell tactics to get you to buy the property in their listing. Then, there are agents who won’t pay much attention to you because your area of interest has a low demand and low property prices.
While isolated, these episodes with real estate agents have given the profession a stigma. Potential buyers aren’t just looking for the best deals in property but the best realtor they can work with.
Having a website for your real estate business gives potential buyers a source where they can get information about you not just as a realtor but as a person. It also professionalizes you as a realtor.
Trust us when we say an email address that reads [email protected] is more impressive than [email protected].
Here are our suggestions on how to enhance your personal brand with your real estate website.
- Blog
Think of a website as having a virtual soapbox on the Internet. You’re the only one who can stand on it and say what you want to an audience who is willing to listen. Blogging is the best way to communicate with your audience.
Blog about topics that interest your target market. Share your opinions, expertise, and experiences with them. Create content that provides valuable information that helps readers find immediate solutions to their problems or concerns.
You don’t have to blog every day. Publishing 3 blogs per week will be enough to generate traction for your business.
If you don’t have time to blog, outsource the task to us. We have a content creation team at Mountaintop Web Design that has been creating optimized content for clients that have consistently delivered results over the years!
- The About Us Page
The “About Us” page is often an afterthought for many business owners. They equate writing an About Us page to writing a resume.
Our approach to writing an About Us page for our clients is not to write about the business owner but to write about how the business owner can help the potential buyer.
We want the About Us page to resonate with the reader and create an alignment of thought and purpose. This is the start of the relationship-building process – your first conversation with a potential property buyer.
Properly written, the About Us page becomes the most powerful, influential page on your website because it establishes a connection with the reader right away.
Yes, we’ll write about your work experience, educational background, and accomplishments but we’ll present them in a manner that allows the reader to understand how these qualities can help him find the right property.
We’ll also include a short piece about your life when you’re not out on the road selling real estate property. If you like red wine, enjoy cooking, or running marathons, let your readers know!
These hobbies and interests show that you’re not just about making thousands of dollars in commissions. Selling real estate is your livelihood but not your life.
- Achievements/Accomplishments
Sharing your achievements and accomplishments isn’t bragging. It’s validating what you can do as a realtor.
Besides, people can easily Google your claims to see if they’re genuine. If you received awards and citations, upload high-resolution images that can be enlarged once clicked on.
A website might have evolved from an online marketing brochure to other more complex forms such as e-commerce but it still remains an effective tool for promoting your business and enhancing your personal brand.
- Testimonials
With testimonials, you don’t have to enlist the services of social media influencers. Testimonials are powerful statements that can influence the decision of the website visitor to hire your services right away.
Ask some of your clients to provide testimonials about their experiences with you as their realtor. It would add more credibility to the testimonials if you include their pictures and mention their full names and cities.
- Social Media Links
We make sure to include links to our client’s social media pages on their websites. The links are found on every page to make it easier for website visitors to check out our clients’ social media content.
Why is this important? Again, it’s part of the due diligence process. Potential buyers can be curious about the realtor they might decide to deal with. You might not be aware of it but potential buyers could run your name in a Google search to learn more about you.
To be clear, we’ll post the link to your Business page, not your personal page. What you post about, how you craft content, and how you interact with commenters will give potential buyers an idea of who you are as a realtor and as a person.
- Proprietary Images
The easiest way to adorn your website with beautiful, high-resolution images is to buy stock photos on the Internet. However, “easiest” might be the most efficient but it might not be as effective for potential buyers.
Another real estate website might have used the same stock photo of the real estate team smiling and high-fiving each other that you uploaded on the homepage. This can happen especially if the photo is particularly eye-catching.
But if you use original or proprietary images, no other website would look like yours. Likewise, if you upload an image of your actual team of real estate agents smiling and high-fiving each other, it would make you appear more authentic and trustworthy.
2. Become a Valuable Resource
With a real estate website, you don’t have to exclusively write about the properties you sell or the industry. Allow yourself to get creative and include content that’s slightly off base but still relevant to the business of selling properties.
For example, you could write about the factors that make the properties you’re selling a great investment:
- Nearby Schools – Make a quick summary of the schools that are found within proximity of the properties in your list. Include a brief description of the school’s strengths and achievements.
- Restaurants and Malls – Create a list of the top 5 restaurants and bars in the area. Include reviews of the different menus and add your personal recommendations. Do the same for the malls and upload directional maps.
- Transportation – Include information about how and where to get public transportation and the best routes to take for the most popular destinations.
- Attractions/Things-to-Do – Write about activities that homeowners can do in the area. Share information about amusement parks, gyms, churches, and popular tourist attractions, plus special events that take place at specific times of the year.
- Hacks and Tips – If you know of ways that will help residents save more in energy bills during the winter months or find the best deals for summer clothes, share them on your website. These areas are important considerations that potential buyers make before deciding on investing in real estate property. Whether the buyer is the end-user or a speculator, he wants to make sure the investment has a good upside in the future.
3. Stay Ahead of the Competition
While you’re still thinking about setting up a website for your real estate business, your competitors are busy either writing the next blog post, acquiring new leads, or responding to chat messages on their websites.
You’re falling behind.
Maybe you’re thinking the agency that hired you already has a website you can present to clients.
Ask yourself, “Is the website even presentable to the client?”
That’s one reason why many realtors decide on putting up their own websites. They view the agency’s website as not good enough for the client because of the following reasons:
- The website is not mobile responsive.
- The website’s download speed is very slow.
- The site’s content is poorly written; bad grammar, misspelled words, and no flow of thought.
- The social sharing buttons aren’t working.
- The site has poor-quality images.
A realtor who wants to raise his profile and stay ahead of the competition will invest in a website that looks and performs better than the agency’s or his competitors.
His real estate website might have these additional features:
- Chat support
- A download of free e-books
- 360-degree view of select properties
- Walkthrough videos of select properties
- Home loan amortization calculator
- Customized search results based on location, size of the property, and price range
But your competitor’s biggest advantage over you is that potential buyers will find him.
4. Shine the Spotlight on Your Properties
Sure there are online real estate directories that will allow you to promote the properties in your listing at the cost of a monthly subscription fee.
But they won’t give you much real estate area on their websites.
On many real estate listing sites, the platform will only give you 1 page to list and describe your property. Likewise, the features, as well as the changes you can incorporate on your page, are limited.
In contrast, you can pull out the bells and whistles for your properties on your website.
- Post as many high-resolution photos as you want. Upload photos of every bedroom and bathroom, show different angles of the kitchen and dining areas, and multiple facades of the house.
- Don’t hold back on the description of the property. Some listing sites will only limit property descriptions to 300 words. For potential buyers, they would need more information and detail that 300 words won’t be enough. Optimize your content with keywords to make the properties easily searchable on the Internet.
- Embed links on each property to a video on your YouTube channel. People love watching property videos because it’s like getting a virtual walkthrough inside the home.
By having your own real estate website, you don’t have to worry about the competition.
The online listing directory might have the numbers but with proper website optimization, you might generate higher traffic without having your visitor get distracted by other brokers’ listings.
Your website visitors will only view the properties on your listing.
5. Generate Leads
To be successful in the real estate industry, a realtor must constantly work on the 3 “L’s”
- Listings
- Leverage
- Leads
We may have presented “Leads” as third among the 3 Ls but there’s a strong argument that it should be the first.
Without enough leads, you won’t have opportunities to set appointments and meet with prospective buyers and sellers of properties to build your listing. And unless your listing is bursting at the seams, there’s no reason for you to leverage your business by hiring more agents or improving its current systems.
Having a real estate website improves your ability to generate leads because the majority of visitors who click on your URL must have a need for the services you provide.
Once they land on your home page, it now depends on your Call-to-Action (CTA) to get site visitors to willingly provide personal information.
If your landing pages have compelling and engaging CTAs, your website will become a lead-generating machine.
While you’re out there meeting with prospects, showing off houses, and attending auctions, your website is busy at work generating leads for your real estate business.
Conclusion
Are you spending thousands of dollars on property listings and ad postings? Let us help you streamline costs while giving your productivity a boost by designing and developing a real estate website for you.
The website becomes a hub; a one-stop-shop for everything your clients need to learn more about the properties in your listing.
If they want to visit your social media sites, read about your work experience, find out what your clients think about you, and get in touch with you – the website will provide them with all the resources and features they need.
Give us a call or drop us an email. If you don’t have a real estate website, it’s not too late to catch up with the competition.
Especially if we optimize the site and its contents for Google. That could be your edge over your competitors!
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