The search for real estate online has grown by 1550% in the past 5 years. We don’t need to tell you that that’s a LOT. This growth was inevitable given the increasing public reliance on the internet for virtually any information. The real estate industry was clearly no exception.
Homebuyers constantly flock online in search of their dream house or optimal property. This implies that the search for an understanding real estate deals online is on the daily rise as well. People blindly trust the expertise of Google to provide them with the best options and match them with real estate agents that fit their needs.
But from these options that the buyers get, they still need to pick one dealer that they can trust to go ahead with.
How do they make this decision?
By judging your website.
Your website contains all the information (or the lack of it) a buyer would need to select or eliminate you. It’s a pitch to the buyer without the sales push. We like to call it a pre-pitch. This pre-pitch will be the main deciding factor whether you get to make the real time pitch or not.
When you get your website right, half your work is done. You know that you have impressed the buyer and that they are interested in doing business with you. After some great customer service and some salesmanship, consider the deal sealed.
But yes, making the perfect website is no easy task. Most dealers will use a generic web builder, focus too much on the design and aesthetic and wonder why they aren’t getting any leads.
When it comes to real estate, just the design of your website isn’t enough. There are certain features, relevant information, an important structure you need to follow to turn your visitors to clients.
This is what you will learn in this post.
How to really build a real estate website.
We’ve summarised years of our expertise in this concise post, talking about everything you need for an effective website in the real estate industry.
In a snapshot, these are the things you need to note for your real estate website.
- Your website’s loading speed.
- The information you provide to visitors.
- Having a live chatbot.
- Video tours.
- Mobile responsiveness.
- Use testimonials.
- Placement of your CTAs.
We’ll elaborate on each aspect, so make sure you go through the whole thing. Half knowledge is dangerous.
7 things in a real estate website that converts visitors
If you’ve wondered why some dealers’ websites do better than others, this is why. Now you’re about to know their secret. Use it effectively and you’ll do wonders (and not just wonder how).
How quick are you?
What comes to your mind when you have to build a website? You’ll probably end up thinking about what colours to use to match your brand image, what aesthetic and theme you’d want to follow, or the pictures and animations you’d want to use to make your site attractive.
At what point do you think about the loading speed of your site then? The thing is, your visitors (and Google’s algorithm) notice the site’s loading speed as the preliminary assessment. Naturally then, ensuring quick and efficient loading speeds should be your top priority when launching your website. Faster website = Faster results.
Making an informational website
When making your websites helpful and informative, we don’t just mean including mortgage calculators, neighbourhood statistics and other information. Include more general information which explains what the extensive amount of technical terms mean in real estate. Your home buyers would not like feeling dumb and lost when buying a house. Make sure they know every term that you use in your site, and more. Consider adding a real estate encyclopaedia to guide your audience.
An elaborate focus on guiding the buyers through real estate transactions and deals will also prove to be helpful for your visitors. When you include relevant information in your site, visitors will inherently feel more comfortable in dealing with you.
Speaking 24*7
It’s human nature to ask for help. So will your website’s visitors. But speaking to your visitors isn’t your entire business. While it’s extremely relevant for you to be there for them, you have other things that need your attention as well.
This is why you should incorporate chatbots in your site. Being welcomed with an online chat option, visitors will feel like they have a live guide online, helping them navigate throughout the website seamlessly.
Besides just revamping the user experience, a chatbot will answer any queries that the buyers may have when learning about you and your properties. This will give the prospects an extremely thorough visit and walkthrough of your business, making them much more likely to convert.
Showing the properties clearly
Buying a property is a big deal. Your buyers need to be well informed before they make a decision to purchase. It’s not normal to make such a decision with just pictures and pretty words. Include video tours of your properties for your visitors to get a more well-rounded showing of the house without having to go anywhere.
This will make sure the leads that contact you after the video tour will be serious and well-informed of the house they desire. You don’t just have to stick to video tours of properties. Consider including video welcomes, a tour of the neighbourhood, or just show what life is like in that part of the city. Walk your visitors through the culture and the activities around so that they begin to feel a connection with the property of their liking.
Studies prove that majority of the people prefer a visual + audio information about a product that they want. Imperatively, adding video messages and tours on top of your professional photos is an effective strategy for your real estate website.
Mobile responsiveness is key
Not just your visitors, even Google’s algorithm prefers a website that is integrated to use in smaller screens with equal efficiency. That is, have a mobile responsive design.
It’s very common with dealers to build a top-notch website with the desktop design in mind and neglect what the same site would look like in a smaller screen. In recent times, it is more common for homebuyers to look for properties right in their phones instead of sitting behind a desktop or opening their laptop. Everyone craves convenience. And that’s what you should deliver.
It is not uncommon for Google to rank a site lower because it’s mobile version compromises on information or features that is present in the desktop version. This makes having a mobile responsive design, without any loss of efficiency, one of the major key aspects in your real estate website’s success.
Building that trust
The best way to get a new and potential clients trust? Show them that you are trusted.
Ask your previous clients and/or connections for descriptive reviews. Pro tip: Don’t stop at just a small section dedicated to client testimonials. Go wild! Use a separate page to show your visitors the love that your clients have for you. Do not hesitate to show off. It only will make your visitors relate both you and your past clients.
Feel free to ask for a video testimony from some of your clients. This will skyrocket your brand image and build a trust that will not break. Visitors will know that you are a dealer who builds mutual respect and rapport with your clients. And who doesn’t love respect? Your visitors will be incredibly more comfortable and motivated to contact you when they know that you have already done impressive work, so make sure to include a contact option along with your testimonials!
Turning visitors to clients
The most relevant part of your website, your Call to Action. (CTAs) This is what turns your visitors to clients. These CTAs can be in more forms than one, a contact tab being the most common for realtors.
Being the most important thing, they obviously deserve a spot at the top of your site, where all eyes are bound to be directed. But make sure not to go overboard with a CTA that covers half your page. It should be subtle, yet strong. The best way to nail it, is to nail it. Fix your CTA at the top of your page, so that even when your users navigate down your site, the CTA is still with them in their eyesight.
