Did you know that 90% of home buyers use the internet as their primary research method and 52% use it before any other resource?
Your website is your digital storefront that makes an important first impression and augments your online presence. A well-designed, user-friendly real estate website can help you build trust and relationships with prospects so they’re more likely to get in touch and use your services.
What should you include on your website to make it work harder for you? Here are 8 real estate website design best practices to help you stand out.
Must-Have Features and Best Practices For Your Real Estate Website
Building a website isn’t hard but getting it right can be challenging. Which features should you include? What should you prioritize? Here’s what you need to know:
1. Intuitive Top-Level Navigation
Your top navigation should communicate to visitors what your website offers and help them find what they’re looking for (e.g., home listings, available rentals, etc.) quickly and easily. Also, limit it to a few items and label them clearly to minimize confusion.
2. Robust Search Features
Robust search and filtering functionalities help visitors quickly find what they need based on various criteria, such as location, number of bedrooms, ascending and descending listing price, square footage, etc. After all, if they can’t find what they want, they won’t get in touch!
3. High-Quality Visual Content
Visual content, such as high-resolution professional photography, video tours, or 360-degree images can help you showcase properties in compelling and engaging ways. Optimize the assets so that they don’t increase load time, which can create a frustrating user experience that could cause visitors to leave the site.
4. Interactive Features and Content
Keep visitors engaged with interactive features that help them explore your content and find relevant information. These can include mortgage calculators, area maps, virtual tours, and features for finding local places of interest (e.g., schools, restaurants, grocery stores, parks, etc.)
5. Relevant and Valuable Information
Content marketing is a powerful strategy for real estate agents. Include a blog on your website to boost your SEO and build trust with prospects. Create original content that’s relevant to your clients — for example, you can showcase local lifestyle, offer insights on the regional market, and more.
6. Lead Capture Mechanisms
Email marketing can help you nurture and convert leads cost-effectively. But first, you need to build your list! Incorporate lead generation capabilities throughout your website to capture visitors’ information. You can also segment your list based on the information they request (e.g., listing location) to send personalized campaigns.
7. Social Proof and Trust Signals
Build instant credibility by posting client testimonials throughout your website. You can also embed user-generated content (e.g., social media posts, videos) and include links to social media profiles where you have a large following and high engagement rates to show that you’re a trusted real estate agent.
8. Contact Information
Make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you. Create a dedicated contact page that visitors can access from the top navigation and include a phone number, email address, and online contact form with minimal required fields. You can also incorporate live chat to provide real-time assistance and a tap-to-call feature for mobile users.
Get the Most of Your Real Estate Website
It’s not unusual to hear real estate agents say that they have invested time and money on their websites yet aren’t seeing the expected results. But it may not be the website’s problem!
Don’t forget the other piece of the online marketing puzzle — driving high-quality traffic to your website. From local SEO and PPC ads to social media and email marketing, you need to utilize different channels to attract visitors to your website so you can get the highest ROI from your online marketing efforts.
See how we can help you build an online brand and connect with your target audience here.
