Websites play an important role in the real estate industry. It helps connect real estate agents to leads and potential customers who are looking into real properties. A website is basically the digital façade of your business where you can foster relationships and establish connections with clients.
When building a website, one of the most important things to consider is the visitor’s first impression. Your platform should be able to convince them that they’ve come to the right place. Otherwise, they’ll leave you for others that may address their concerns better.
So, upon visiting your site, what do you think your clients will experience? Will they be able to appreciate your content and stay, or will they look for other websites instead?
In this article, you’ll discover the essential features of a real estate website that’ll help your team sell a house fast in Milwaukee or anywhere around the globe. Also, these elements will make potential clients stay and decide better.
Mobile-Friendly Website
These days, most people spend their time using mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, to communicate with other people and search for interesting things on the internet. Therefore, it’s important for a website to be responsive when opened using a mobile device.
Here are some tips to follow when creating a mobile-friendly website:
- Think With Your Thumb: Make sure that every button and function is accessible using a single hand.
- Simplify Your Navigation Menu: Avoid complicated functions people don’t actually need when browsing through your platform. But make sure you never forget the most important selections when searching for a suitable home.
- Compress Your Images: Avoid large images that may affect the loading speed of your website. Compress them to reduce their size and reduce the loading speed of your site.
- Avoid Fancy Designs: Fancy designs, such as blends of different colors and multiple background layers can make the website unresponsive. So, stick to simple yet eye-catching designs to improve the responsiveness of your website and avoid crashes.
- Use Proper Font Size: Remember, they’re viewing your content using a smaller device, so make sure the size of the text is readable and understandable. Otherwise, your visitors may be more inclined to leave the page.
With a mobile-friendly website, more people will visit your platform more often, improving your reach and lead generation.
Clear Navigation
Users should be able to navigate easily through your website without experiencing errors. To ensure your website is easily navigable, here are some basic guidelines you might want to follow:
- Limit Items On The Screen: Adding multiple selections may confuse your audience. They might have a hard time looking for the information they need. Therefore, limit the selections to a maximum of seven items or less.
- Describe Pages Effectively: Using plain terms like ‘About Us’ or ‘Contact Us’ is fine. Just avoid long and wordy labels. It’d be best to stick with two to three words for better results.
- Place Links In A Proper Position: It’s highly recommended to insert links at the front or end of the content. Your visitors will most likely expect more info at the start or at the end of the pages.
- Link Every Page Of Your Website Properly: Make sure that every page is linked properly to your website to help users navigate freely and get the information they need.
Accessible Primary Information
You want to make sure your primary information is accessible and can be readily seen by everyone without having to scroll or scrounge through the whole website. In web design, this is called placing elements ‘above the fold.’ With this, people no longer need to browse further through your website just to find your primary information, including your:
- Name
- Contact details
- Location
- Call-to-action links that redirect users to important pages
Listings
When it comes to real estate websites, a property listing is an important element you should never ignore. It contains all the important information an interested buyer would want to know.
Here are the features your listings should possess:
- High-quality, clickable, and zoomable images
- MLS number
- Filtering options
- At-a-glance information (an overall summary usually placed at the top of the content)
- ‘More info’ button
- Clear maps
- Videos, such as virtual home tours or drone videos
- Brochures (downloadable content as much as possible)
- Print options
- ‘Call agent’ button
Furthermore, check out competitor websites to identify what’s missing on your page and gain an advantage over them.
Contact Information Across Every Page
Contacting real estate agents is the main purpose of running a real estate website. So, contact information should be effortlessly accessible on every page of your website so that users may find it easy to call and communicate.
For mobile users, phone numbers should be in the form of clickable links that automatically call an agent when touched.
About Page
Your website’s about page should contain your bio. Most real estate agents often ignore this page without knowing its power to represent and showcase your brand. In addition, this is where your visitors will find out who you are and what makes you a cut above the rest.
Here are the elements you may consider including on your about page:
- It should showcase your skillsets and the property types you frequently deal with, such as condominiums, luxury properties, commercial estates, etc.
- It should include your professional photo.
- It should be brief, concise, and easy to understand.
- It should include your contact information, such as email and phone number.
Furthermore, you can level up your about page by including a short video introduction of yourself. After all, video materials are one of the most effective ways to capture the hearts of your audience. Many people prefer seeing and hearing somebody instead of just reading their profiles.
Blogs
Create a blog that promotes information regarding your field of work. This may include content about how to find a reliable realtor or questions to ask a real estate agent. Good content also helps your website build higher authority so that people may find you easily.
By writing blogs, you show your expertise in the field. Thus, others will find you not only as a reliable source of information, but also as a credible real estate agent that’ll help them get the property they desire at a reasonable price point.
Final Words
A website is a powerful tool capable of making you stand out against your competitors in the real estate industry. However, running a website doesn’t mean that people will automatically visit your page or stay and read the information there. If you implement the features above, you’ll be able to attract more leads and land a quick sale. So, head onto your website and see what needs to be improved.
