There are over 106,000 real estate brokerage firms in the US. With so much competition in just about every city and town, how can your business stand out?
It all comes down to your website! More buyers are searching online for homes than ever before, so you need to have an incredible real estate listing website.
But what if you’re starting from scratch and don’t have one? Don’t worry, we can help—here’s our real estate website guide, outlining how to build a great site for your agency.
Decide If You Want to DIY or Outsource
When building a real estate website, you first need to decide if you’ll do it yourself or outsource to an IT firm. A real estate website is a complex thing, but if you have solid design and IT knowledge, you can definitely build it yourself to save money.
If you do this, you’ll need to also think about which web hosting company to go with and what your design will look like. This can be created by yourself, if you have coding skills, or by using a real estate website template through Wix or WordPress.
However, if not, it’s best to partner with a web design company that can do it for you. Yes, it’s an investment, but you’ll get amazing results!
Just be sure to find a designer with experience specifically in real estate web design.
Buy Your Domain Name
If you haven’t already, you need to buy your domain name. This is the URL of your website that customers will type into a search bar to go to your site.
Ideally, your domain should be short, simple, and as close to your business name as possible. If you’re ‘John Smith Realtors’, for example, www.johnsmithrealesate.com, or something close, is your Best Stellar MLS IDX option.
However, because there are millions of websites out there, you might not be able to find an exact match to your business name.
Create Your Website Layout
Your website layout, or design, is something you need to think about! Imagine yourself as the client—an individual or family trying to look for a house.
Then, try to design your layout in a way that will work well for them, allowing them to search for properties and contact you as easily as possible. If a website isn’t easy to use, it’s going to be off-putting to potential buyers—meaning you could lose out on customers quickly.
Add All the Necessary Features
A key part of getting your layout right is including all of the most important features. If you’re unsure how to get started, look at other real estate websites for inspiration.
What do you like about their designs, and what doesn’t seem to work well? This can help you build a better website.
Here are a few key features that should be on any real estate site.
Contact Page
It needs to be easy for website users to contact you to get information about a property. This means your contact page should be straightforward and linked directly to each home listing, so you know which home the person is interested in when they email you.
Your contact page should include your email, phone number, and location. However, it’s also great to set it up as an embedded form, so customers can email you directly from the site.
Search Field
You’ll want to spend a lot of time thinking about how your search field will work. People search for properties online based on a wide range of features, so you need to include all of them.
These include price, location, the number of bedrooms, square footage, and the number of bathrooms. This means you need to create a page where customers can search all of these fields.
From a backend perspective, this also means all of your home listings will need to be entered correctly onto your site, so they show up in the right searches.
Ability to Showcase High-Res Photos
If there’s one thing potential buyers love, it’s photos! Photos, and increasingly video, are used by real estate agents to highlight a home’s best features.
But no one wants to see blurry photos—your images need to be clear, high-res, and impressive. So, consider this when building your design.
A key part of this is website speed, since high-res photos can sometimes take time to load. Because you don’t want to keep customers waiting, focus on site speed so all of your listings can load quickly.
Develop a Marketing Plan
Once your website is looking good, how will people find it? To increase your reach, it helps to have a marketing plan for your new website.
Essentially, this will outline how your new website will align with your marketing strategy. You can find more info here on why real estate marketing is so important, in case you need some tips!
Build Your Real Estate Listing Website With These Tips
If you’re in need of a brand-new website or planning an upgrade, use this guide to get started. The right real estate listing website can take your business to the next level—think of new leads, more listings, and increased brand awareness.
Start by brainstorming what sort of style and look you’d like for your new website. Then, bring it to life!
Once your new site is launched, be sure to promote it to your customers and across social media—everyone is sure to love it!
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