Creating a real estate business website takes considerable knowledge.
When creating a website for real estate agents, you always need to think from two perspectives: first the customer's and second Google's. Only when both sides (and, of course, the real estate agent) are satisfied can the website work. But how can you achieve this?
Be inspired by the best real estate business website.
Customers visiting your website have specific needs to be met. Often, your advertising has promised them a great deal to attract them to the site. They are either looking for properties on the market or for the real estate agent's sales-related services. This calls for the best possible website design and an optimal user experience (=User Experience, or UX).
1) Do visitors find what they are looking for on the website?
When customers open a real estate agent's website, they should immediately feel sure they are in the right place. The right images, headline, colors and logo convey reassurance and trust. The first moment on a website is crucial: am I in the right place? What can I find here? What can I do here? Can I see the services at a glance? And do I understand the website's navigation?
Here we are talking about interactive design and intuitive navigation.
2) Does the visitor find the information relevant to them?
Visitors come to a real estate agent's website for a specific reason. They have either searched online and expect clear answers to their query, or arrived because of the real estate agent's advertising message. It is therefore crucial to provide direct answers to the questions raised in your advertising or asked in their searches. For example, if a real estate agent has advertised a guide to inheritance, that guide should be easy to find on the website. If the business promotes property valuations across its communications, that property valuation should also be easy to find.
At this point, it can also be crucial to distinguish between sellers' and buyers' needs. After all, a real estate agent's website should not just sell properties, but also win new listings.
3) Can visitors find your brand, real estate agents and area of expertise?
As a real estate agent, you are your own brand. Your website should therefore show you as a person. You, your team and the shared brand under which your business operates should immediately stand out. You also work in a specific region. Images of other regions or anonymous stock photos have no place on your website. Ideally, people from the area you specialize in should find images of that area. This creates strong recognition and makes them feel at home right away.
Real estate business websites generally show too few people, feel too impersonal and offer little connection to the brand and its services. The more personally and distinctively the brand, real estate agents and website present themselves, the better the inquiries their online presence can generate.
4) Does the website guide visitors toward conversion?
A successful real estate business website is always about conversions too. This means turning a visitor into an inquiry (contact). Examples include signing up for a newsletter, downloading a guide or completing a property valuation. The simplest conversion is a direct phone call or email. Ideally, an inquiry (conversion) includes at least a name and an email address or phone number so you can act right away. Above all: a prompt, constructive response is the foundation of effective online marketing for real estate agents.
Good web design combined with strong content marketing makes the path to conversion simple. Relevant technical tools (property valuation) should always be easy to find. Even if website visitors are not actively looking for this service, a professional website should feature such a calculator frequently – both on the homepage and across various subpages. This makes visitors more likely to find the service and potentially convert into a lead (inquiry). There should always be an opportunity to convert – the more frequent and varied, the better. BOTTIMMO's tools, which can generate website leads for real estate agents, are particularly worthwhile when looking for sellers.
1) Is there enough SEO-relevant content?
Google only takes your website seriously if you provide enough content. The right content marketing helps you build relevance in the search engine. Depending on what visitors search for, your website may be found primarily in local searches. It therefore makes sense not just to increase the volume of content, but also to tailor it specifically to the distinctive features and local conditions of the area you specialize in. Up-to-date market data can help too.
Create good content – keep it fresh and keep adding more. Whether text or images – Google loves it when you fill your website with interesting content. Remember that your content should appeal to both buyers and sellers. The more local expertise and detail you include, the more relevant your information becomes and the more opportunities your website has to be found on Google.
2) Is the content structured for Google?
Even the best website copy is useless if it is not structured for Google. You should therefore know the basic rules of SEO for real estate agents: pay attention to your website's title – the keywords it contains are very important to Google. Use the right headings – the H1, the most important heading, also carries considerable weight. H2 and H3 headings should also be chosen carefully.
A real estate business website performs far better with professionally structured source code. These measures are far from easy to implement – but BOTTIMMO's expert tips and guides make them much easier to understand and put into practice.
3) Does everything work flawlessly on a technical level?
Web design is much more than a few attractive images – everything must be set up properly on a technical level. A property website must also work professionally “under the hood”: clean, perfectly structured code, the right image sizes and formats, a fast server and optimal adaptation to different devices – all are part of creating a professional real estate business website. Technical considerations also include everything relating to cookies and Google Analytics. Modern marketing cannot work without measurement.