As a real estate agent, you likely know how crucial it is to have a strong online presence. Not only should you be maintaining a social media profile on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but you should also have your own professional real estate website, as such a site is an important tool for generating real estate leads.
Yet there’s a world of difference between knowing you need a good real estate website and actually having one. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done before you can begin seeing leads roll in from your site. While some of that work you can likely handle quite easily with just a little research and some sweat equity, there are other aspects that you might not have thought about. That’s why we’ve gathered some of the best ways you can build a great real estate website and begin building your own brand as a real estate professional!
The biggest reason why you need a real estate website is to generate as many great leads as possible. With so many potential home buyers and sellers using the internet in their house hunting search, there’s simply no way to be successful without your own real estate website to promote your personal and professional brand. In fact, research shows that 79 percent of buyers use the internet to find properties, and 28 percent of them got their new homes through a real estate agent they found online. Without a good real estate website, you won’t be able to access those leads.
A lot goes into creating a website that will draw the attention of potential home buyers and sellers. Here’s a short list of what your site should have and why all these components are so useful in building better lead generation.
Promote your past successes to show you’ve got what it takes. Nothing succeeds quite like success, and that’s as true in the world of real estate as it is anywhere else. When you have lots of testimonials available on your website from satisfied past clients, this sends a strong message to potential new ones that you know what you’re doing and that you can help them find their dream home – or the perfect seller for their own property!
Today, nearly anyone can throw together an okay-looking website. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of “do it yourself” website design services out there. But the difference in putting together a site yourself and having one professionally designed for you is literally night and day. A professional website design service applies a level of polish to your site that shows each and every visitor to your site that you’re as professional as they come.
Nothing sells a property better than great images of that property. A picture is worth much more than a million words, but only if the images you’re using on your website are as high of quality as possible. Professionally staged photos of properties showcase the best aspects of that property, making it much more likely that a potential client will follow up with you about seeing the home in person.
So many internet users rely on search engines to find what they’re looking for. To make sure your real estate site shows up prominently in search results, your site must undergo search engine optimization (SEO). Using SEO-friendly keywords, or the right blend of words and phrases that users are most likely to enter into search engines to help them find the content they’re looking for will increase the likelihood of your site coming back in their search results.
Actively marketing your website is an absolute must. Leverage advertising on social media platforms and build mailing lists to cast a wide net online to generate interest. In the “real” world, be sure to become involved in your local community by sponsoring or participating in local events, and giving away free swag with your name and website address on it.
So many of us use our mobile devices almost exclusively, and especially when it comes to searching the internet. Nobody wants to walk all the way over to their desktop or laptop when they have their phone in their pocket, after all. That’s why it’s so crucial to ensure your site has been designed to display properly on mobile devices. If not, a prospective lead is going to navigate off your site and go to a competitor, never to return!
A real estate professional lives and dies by their visibility. No one is going to beat a path to your door if they don’t know who you are and what you offer them, after all – and a real estate agent with no clients is one that’s not making any progress. In other words, you need to make sure you’re as visible as possible to potential clients. That means a strong online presence in the form of a real estate website that you can leverage for leads.
Getting a great website up and running is no easy feat. The amount of time, effort, and resources you invest in developing your real estate site, either personally or through hiring a site design services provider, will be significant. The good news, though, is that the return on that investment can be astronomical. With a great real estate website attracting leads by the dozen, you’ll see your visibility as a real estate agent rise – and along with that, your success.
Your real estate blog is one of the greatest marketing tools you have at your…
With tougher times ahead in the industry, here's a candid look at a few St.…
If you’re in the process of planning a home renovation, you're likely feeling both excited…
When you're buying a house, it's important to have it inspected to ensure that there…
Home sales are a part of the economy that is affected fast and significantly when…
Are you wondering what a real estate ecosystem is and how to create one? In…
