Building a website is essential to establish yourself as a realtor in a highly competitive industry such as real estate.
Did you know that in 2018, over 44% of all homebuyers in the US used the internet to find the property they purchased?
Whether you have recently received your real estate license or if you are a veteran realtor, creating an online presence for yourself and your listings is a must. Otherwise, you risk missing out almost half of your potential clients!
Even if you’ve never built a website for professional purposes, it’s not as difficult as it seems.
By following a few steps, you can quickly create and launch your real estate website to maximize your online reach to nearby residents and those in your local area.
Choose Your Domain Name
A business name can make or break the success of a real estate agent online.
This is why you shouldn’t select a domain name that is difficult to remember, hard to spell, or irrelevant to the service you provide as such a name can result in a loss of new potential clients to represent.
Select a domain name that represents you personally and professionally, or that represents the range of real estate services you provide.
If your full name is too difficult to spell or remember, consider using a shortened version or making up an easy-to-spell alternative.
Remember that prospective clients will have an easier time locating you online or spreading the word of your services to other individuals they know if your domain name is short and spellable enough.
Tool:
Select The Right Host For Your Website
WP Engine is a web host that is not only dedicated to providing lightning-fast speeds and loading times, but top-notch customer support from agents and developers alike.
Using WP Engine is highly recommended whether you are running a small local real estate business or if you are looking to scale your real estate services nationwide. WP Engine represents more than 100,000 WordPress developers, ensuring you are in the right hands when choosing a hosting package for your real estate website.
If the reliability, uptime, and speed of your website are important to you, choose WP Engine as a host you can trust.
Find a Tool To Build Your Website
If you have enough knowledge to develop your own website by yourself, you’ll be able to add any of the features you want in the future. However, building your own site from scratch will take way more time, so it’s highly advisable to select one of the website builders like WordPress, Weebly or Wix.
WordPress is a compact, all-in-one CMS solution that is extremely helpful with building an attractive, modern, and professional website from the ground-up with no experience necessary. It helps individuals create websites, even if they are unfamiliar with programming and design.
Using this tool for your real estate website is a way for you to customize your site even if you are unfamiliar with programming, coding, and web design yourself.
With WordPress, you can quickly add new blog posts, pages, and make changes to the overall layout of your website. Upload new photos, video media, and graphics to promote current listings, tours, and walkthroughs you want to share.
Additionally, you can use WordPress to allow comments from locals who are interested in learning more or from those who wish to provide you with testimonials and reviews.
Select a Website Theme
Whenever you are searching for a WordPress theme for your real estate website, it is important to verify that the theme is mobile-friendly and responsive.
Mobile-friendly and responsive WordPress themes automatically adjust to fit traditional desktop browser screens, mobile smartphone, and tablet device screens. Using a mobile-friendly and responsive layout will ensure you do not miss and opportunity to appeal to a potential client who is looking for a real estate agent.
You should choose a theme that has been downloaded, reviewed and tested heavily. This will ensure that bug get worked out and the theme continues to be developed through the years.
Tools:
Avada– Super high functioning WordPress theme
Astra – Super fast loading WordPress theme
Sign up for a WP Engine plan and receive the Genesis Framework and 35+ StudioPress Themes free! – Over all solid themes with a real estate specific child theme
Share Listings On Your Site
IDX, also known as the Internet Data Exchange, is a vital tool used by realtors who are interested in sharing their current listings online. The IDX system provides current laws, rules, regulations, certificates, licenses, and the latest technologies for real estate agents who are interested in building an online presence.
Integrating IDXBroker software with WordPress is a way to get your real estate website up and running without a hassle each time you attempt to publish a new listing.
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Add Sold Listings To Your Website
IMPRESS Listings is fantastic free plugin that can bolster your Real Estate marketing and save you money. This plugin could be used for a replacement to IDX, although I would recommend using it as a complimentary tool.
I like to use it to add sold listings to real estate websites. If you are using a different CMS you can add the solds manually to your site.
This plugin can also be a replacement for the Single Property Websites that you may be paying for. How you say… Read This Blog Post To Find Out:
Creating Single Property Websites With Impress Listings
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Include Client Testimonials On Your Website
Include client testimonials on your website to build immediate trust between new visitors and prospective clients.
Client testimonials help to establish yourself as a professional realtor while also reassuring those who are interested in your services that you are trustworthy, reliable, and committing to providing results.
Again, using WordPress plugins will be a good idea, as you can choose from a number of testimonial plugins like Easy Testimonials, Testimonial Rotaror, Strong Testimonials, and others. All of them let you easily add new client reviews, manage their order, add client information like the job title, photo, and company.
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Install Additional Plugins
Install additional plugins that are useful for any WordPress website, such as Speed Optimization and Social Sharing Tools.
There are also plugins to create lead capture forms, live chat options, and even FAQ sections for your website, making it more user-friendly and helping your potential clients get more information about the services you provide.
It will definitely be a good idea to research and compare plugins that are available for real estate agents to find plugins that are most suitable for your business. Some of the top real estate WordPress plugins available include IMPress Listings and IMPress Agents.
Tools:
Format Your WordPress Installation
Once you complete the initial installation process of your WordPress website, you can then begin formatting your website, or improving your sites UX (User Experience).
Log in to the administrative panel of your WordPress website to become familiar with the inside of your site. From the admin panel, you have the ability to update and change the following:
- Hyperlink Format: Choose how to display your links and pages on your WordPress website. Formatting to allow links to display using subject lines is highly recommended for SEO, or search engine optimization purposes.
- Template: Make changes to your website’s current template or upload and install a new layout.
- Plugins: Browse thousands of plugins available within the WordPress directory. Install and active plugins without manually downloading and uploading files to your website’s server.
- Blog Posts: Add new blog posts to your website with an easy text editor that can also be used visually to implement images and widgets.
- Pages: Create entirely new pages for your WordPress website using the administrative panel.
- Users: Add or edit the profiles that can access the WordPress back-end.
Build An Online Presence Using Local SEO
Creating an online presence is imperative as a realtor in a highly competitive industry. Develop your online presence by optimizing your Local SEO rankings.
This includes:
- Creating and Optimizing Your Google My Business Profile
- Creating and Optimizing Other Relevant Business Profiles
- Creating and Optimizing a Social Media Campaign
- Engaging In A Content Marketing Strategy
- Building Up a Video Marketing Strategy
- Creating and Maintaining Local Citations
- Optimizing Your Websites On-Page SEO
- Gathering High Score Reviews On Multiple Sites
You can become an expert in Local SEO for Real Estate Agents by reading our Ultimate Guide:
Following these top realtors can provide valuable insight into your own marketing and online presentation:
- Fredrik Eklund
- Ryan Serhant
- Josh Altman
- Mauricio Umansky
- Josh Flagg
- Katrina Campins
- Heather Altman
Remember to carry out a well-planned content strategy that includes regular posting and relevant and useful information for your subscribers.
Use A/B testing
Once your site is up and running, you may want to redesign it for good, to, say, get more visitors and more conversions. And to ensure that these redesign changes will turn out beneficial for you, it’s a good idea to A/B test them.
With A/B testing, you can learn how to promote current listings using slight variations in imagery, headings, links, and CTAs, or calls-to-action. Thanks to the testing results, you will discover which type of imagery and language works best to communicate with the audience of potential clients you aim to reach.
For example, you may want to change your CTA but are not sure which of the variants you’ve prepared is the best one. That’s why you can show both variants to users and see which one performs better.
A/B is also really good for social media. Have an upcoming showing of a property you want to share with locals in a specific neighborhood?
Use A/B testing when launching multiple campaigns simultaneously. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram both provide simplistic tools to launch A/B tests when launching new marketing campaigns using the networks.
SUMMARY
Knowing how to create and launch a modern and attractive website is essential as a real estate agent. By building an online presence, establish yourself as professional, trustworthy, knowledgeable, and experienced in your local area, regardless of surrounding competition. With the right website, persona, and online presence, maximize your online reach and your ability to expand your clientele.
BIO: Irina Sidorenko is a communication and marketing manager. She has many years of experience in IT and Business industry, and runs her own small business. Irina works on several projects, including developing of real estate auction websites and mobile apps.
That’s a great article thank you for posting it. The topic is indeed very interesting. Having a website is a must for any real estate business. Today is not enough to have a good website, it is also important to have the impeccable services. That’s where Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning comes in. Solutions like chatbots could elevate customer service to the entirely new level. It could be a crucial factor for Real Estate agencies to stay ahead of the competitors, during an initial contact with a client.
Thank you Roman. I agree AI is becoming a crucial piece of the website puzzle.
Hi Jason, Firstly that was a really great and insightful blog that you have Posted and everything was right on the point.
Secondly i echo with Roman, Yes these days Real Estate Websites are not just about new features but also some impeccable services like Live Chat as on My experience i get more inquiries through the Chat Bot than on the Contact Form/Page.
I agree John… everything is starting to lean towards AI powered lead capture.
Thanks for the good article. But all points are applicable not only to real estate sites. Users/customers always need quality service – e-commerce, video-streaming sites, etc.
Very nice and well researched – thank you!