Next to offering great service, having a good-looking and useful website for the business is the main thing that almost every company can do to change business results better. A company website can be an online business card, landing page, sales page and so much more. If only leveraged properly.
But still...you can notice quite many real estate companies whose website is not working for their business. It might be outdated, not appealing and looking non-professional, perhaps even cheap. Its structure and user experience can be confusing.
The first thing people might notice is the design of the website. However, good design only doesn't help - but combining stunning design with proper website strategy can be game-changer for your business.
Here are some of the reasons why every real estate agency/broker should have a modern and working website, in addition to "just looking nice".
1. Responsiveness.
People use their phones a lot. Average daily usage of mobile phones to browse, surf and look for information online has sky-rocketed in the last 5 to 10 years. If your potential customer wants to search for information about your company - services you offer, brokers, objects or just contact info - there's a big chance he/she is doing it from the mobile phone.
Here's the problem. There are still quite many websites out that aren't responsive - meaning, they are not optimized to use with phones and tablets. And this is causing a problem for your business - statistic shows that if a person opens a non-responsive website with their phone and it's very (!) inconvenient and difficult to look for the information, he/she will just close the page. Lost website visit. Perhaps one lost a customer.
Shorty - make sure that your website is responsive and easy to use with mobile phones. If that's not the case, your company is missing out and should invest in a new, modern website soon.
2. Google Search ranking
Like it or not, Google is important - more precisely - your position and findability on Google Search. If it's almost impossible to find your website using Google, you are oftentimes one step behind of your competitors.
So, how can you affect Google algorithms and make your website findable for Google?
Mobile-friendly. For Google, it makes a huge difference if your website is optimized for mobiles or not.
Page speed. Is your website optimized enough, using images that are not taking too much time to load etc?
Structure. To make sure that Google algorithms understand your page content properly, the website needs to be structured properly (some important keywords here: headings, images, paragraphs, sitemap).
Content. Is your content optimized for SEO (search engine optimization)? Are you using the right keywords to make your website more findable?
3. Dynamic - easy to add and change information
In my opinion, it's very important that company/management/employees can change/add/remove different information themselves - without needing to contact the developer for every simple task. That's why we always make sure that it's possible to add/remove objects, team members, services and of course, change every text on the website in 30 seconds - if needed. Without hassle, without needing to know anything about the backend of the website.
In modern times, things change very fast - so let's make sure that your website is always up-to-date and not just "a thing" you made 7 years ago and have stayed like that until today. When your website can be updated quickly and easily, there's also a bigger chance that you will do it ;)
4. Impression
First impression matters. When your customer "lands" on your company website, what will be their thoughts/ first feelings? Do they think that your business must be professional, trusted by many and specialist in your industry? And they can easily find the necessary information?
Or they feel confused, perhaps not too safe to choose your company to handle their real estate transactions?
Don't let your website to cause not great first impression and let to damage it your business.
5. Integrations
Optimization is vital for well-working processes. Some integrations can make your business work smoother. Some of them can make it more informative.
Perhaps you would like to integrate the calendar booking system with your website - so your customer can directly book a call/visit with you. Or maybe you need more advanced question-form to collect/ask certain information from customers? Do you wish to show videos on your website? Is your website connected with Analytics so you can track how many people and from where are visiting your site? Should your customer be able to directly contact you via Whatsapp?
Are these things possible with your current website? If yes - that's great! If not, perhaps your website needs to be updated so it can be integrated with different systems.
6. Sales page - guiding the customer
A good website is not just nice to look at (but it can be that too, of course). A good homepage is oftentimes sales machine or customer acquisition tool. Every website should have a goal which is aligned with your business objectives and is built based on that.
Does your website have clear CTA (Call-to-Action)?
Can your customer have a clear idea what your business if offering within 5 seconds from landing on your website?
Can they easily find contact details? Or do they feel lost when they happen it visit your site?
Make the website work for your company by guiding your website visitors so they can reach the right information quickly :)
7. Show your portfolio/expertise
Your company needs to feel trustworthy for visitors. Easiest and best way to achieve that is to show your current and perhaps also past portfolio. Objects you are handling currently and deals you have done in the past. This way, they can feel that your business has handled similar transactions/services before and this way makes you also more trustworthy.
PS! Combining them with testimonials is always a great way to assure your customers that you are professional and experienced.
So, let's sum it up.
Take your website as your online-office. Place that sets the feeling & tone customers have about you. Your "online - real estate". You control it, you own it. Make it worth to have it ;)
Many big & popular sites where it's possible to advertise your listings are getting bigger and bigger and to be honest, also a bit uncomfortable to use and expensive - difficult contract conditions, hard competition (first pages are oftentimes full of paid ads) and also not fully in your control.
Of course, you can still use different pages and services for listings. But always have your website as the main landing page where to lead customers, grow your brand and increase customers loyalty. Combining your spectacular website with good social media presence can give you a big advantage compared with your competitors.
Take action.
It's time for real estate companies to have their own, modern, dynamic and stunning websites that they can fully control, lead quality traffic there and convert more customers - controlling all the pipeline and making it work for their business.
Some points here raised some ideas/questions for you? Send me an email (contact page) and let's schedule a call to discuss more about them and to see if we can help your company.
Stay safe, stay improving.