Design Tips For High Quality Real Estate Websites

High Quality Real Estate Websites

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A professional real estate website equals a professional service.

That’s why you must aim to develop a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing website.

A home buyer is looking for a stunning design, insightful content and easy navigation. This will help to create a superb user experience that will ensure you stand out online.

To help you become the competition, read our superb design tips to create the best real estate sites.

A Mobile Friendly Real Estate Website

mobile friendly real estate websitesDid you know that 60% of online searches are now on mobile devices?

If you want to provide a fantastic user experience, you must have a mobile responsive website. If you don’t, not only will you annoy a potential buyer, but Google will penalize your website in the SERPs. And if you can’t rank in the search engines, you’ll never become one of the best real estate sites.

A mobile responsive website will alter a website to suit a device, such as a mobile, tablet or desktop.

A customer won’t miss any content or have trouble scrolling, as all the information will be in front of them.

As a result, the improved experience can turn a lead into a conversion and reduce a bounce rate.

Customized Search Options

Different property hunters will have different housing requirements.

The last thing they will want to do is scroll through many properties that don’t match their needs. A home buyer will expect to find a customized search option to filter through properties.

A home buyer will expect to find a customized search option to filter through properties. The customized search function allows a property hunter to filter housing based on:

  • Budget
  • Geography
  • Rooms
  • Amenities

This will improve a navigation experience, and may turn a visitor into a potential client.

Search Engine Optimization

It goes without saying you will want property hunters to find you easily online.

Of course, it’s every real estate agent’s goal to make it onto the first page of Google. Yet, you won’t be able to so without embarking with search engine optimization.

It’s important to develop a strategy that helps propel your website up the ladder. This means optimizing a website for specific regions and towns, as well as your name.

It’s essential to optimize a website or your rivals may become tough competition.

Most visitors don’t make it past the first couple of search engine result’s pages. If they can’t discover the website, you won’t receive much traffic – which will impact your turnover.

High-Quality Real Estate Photography

A picture paints a thousand words.

For this reason, home buyers will want to visit your website to find images of their dream home.

You must ensure a website can support high-quality photos in slideshows and listings. If a visitor can flip through many great photos with ease, they’re more likely to pick up the phone.

Don’t underestimate the importance of showcasing the property’s best features, either. If you want to be one of the best real estate sites, you should highlight the home’s unique selling points.

For example, does the property have a beautiful kitchen? Ensure you showcase it on your website.

One high-quality photo could be all it takes to encourage a web visitor to arrange a viewing.

A Virtual Tour

virtual tour for websitesIf you really want to attract real estate clients, you should embed a virtual tour into a website.

The video content will allow a home buyer to take a tour of the home, which could help make up their mind.

If they like what they see, they’ll want to call you up right away for a real tour of the property.

Only the best real estate sites are providing this superb feature.

Fast Loading Pages

47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less.

If it doesn’t, they’ll become frustrated and click away from your website.

A visitor may believe a slow performing website reflects a slow-performing company. So the quicker the load time, the better they’ll perceive your brand and services.

A real estate website will help to drive a considerable amount of business. For this reason, it’s important not to disappoint a customer before they’ve picked up the phone.

If you want to create the best real estate sites, you can decrease a page load time by:

  • Avoiding the installation of pop-ups
  • Optimizing images to reduce size
  • Changing to a faster web hosting provider
  • Loading scripts and CSS into an external file

Work with a skilled web designer who focuses on the user experience, as well as the aesthetics.

The Content Layout

Don’t overwhelm a visitor with too much information.

You might have a lot to say, but there is a time and a place to say it all.

Instead of filling a homepage with paragraphs of copy, write a blog to make it easier to absorb the content.

The best real estate sites will offer informative blog posts to answer questions.

A home buyer or renter will want to make an informed choice before investing in a property.

A well-written, insightful article can help you become an industry thought leader. The more insightful the content marketing strategy, the more they will trust your services.real estate website content layout

Think about the types of content a customer would like to read.

For example, property hunters might be familiar with the term “mortgage”. Yet, they may not know the difference between a “fixed rate” or “adjustable rate mortgage”.

Your job is to provide them with the answer, as well as a call-to-action at the end of the post.

By helping them to make an informed decision, they’ll be more likely to contact you.

An Online Contact Form

The best real estate sites feature a contact form.

After all, the reason you created the website was to encourage people to pick up the phone or send an email.

Yet, don’t ask too much of a visitor. They don’t want to spend half an hour inputting their age, gender, race or address.

Keep the contact form simple by asking for their name, email, phone number and a good time to call.

You could also feature a drop down menu so they choose whether they want to “buy a property” or “rent a property”.

Not only must you feature a handy contact form, but you should also display your contact details, too.

Ensure the office phone number is prominently displayed on every page.

You should also add a “Contact” page in the top navigation bar that lists:

  • The office number(s)
  • Email address(es)
  • Address(es)
  • Map

This will allow a visitor to contact you via phone, email or in writing. It will also ensure a visitor knows where to find your agency.

Email Capture

66% of companies surveyed agreed email marketing offers excellent to good ROI.

It’s an effective way to re-engage with past visitors and encourage conversions. It’s also an effective way to boost your brand awareness.

Yet, you need to acquire visitors’ emails before you can encourage them to return to your website.

An email capture form allows a visitor to quickly enter their email to sign-up to a newsletter.

Try to offer an incentive for them to sign-up, such as an exclusive deal they won’t find anywhere else. It’s a great way to connect with customers who are considering buying a property but are not ready to commit.

An email could be the one thing that convinces them to pick up the phone and arrange a viewing.

That’s why you must regularly market updates, special offers and property insights via email.

It will help to keep your brand fresh in their minds. When the time comes to invest in a property, you’ll be their first port of call.

Think carefully about the sign-up button on the website, too. The best real estate sites provide a vibrant, eye-catching button with a brief message.

Social Media Integration

If a visitor falls in love with a property, they might want to share it with their friends on social media.

For instance, they may want to ask friends for property advice on Facebook. They may even want to tweet a potential house to their partner via Twitter.

That’s why it’s important to add social media buttons on different pages across the site.

This can boost brand awareness to potential customers and will drive web traffic.

You can also increase online visibility and leads by posting properties and blogs on social media.

Aim to integrate attention-grabbing social share buttons that harmonize with a web design.

Conclusion on How to Create the Best Real Estate Websites

The thought of creating a real estate website might be a little daunting. Yet, it doesn’t have to be.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a start-up real estate investor or a seasoned pro. You must aim to separate your brand from the average sites on the market.

This means building an easy-to-use, aesthetically-appealing, informative website that encourages interaction.

All the above tips can help you to become a force to reckoned with in the industry.

Unsure how to create one of the best real estate websites?

We recommend using this Real Estate Investor Website System. It’s the ideal way to create a unique, credible site that will turn web visitors into clients!

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