5 Things That Should Be On EVERY Real Estate Agent’s Website

As a web designer specializing in designing real estate websites, I’ve looked at hundreds of real estate websites for realtors and read tons of articles about them. With all of this research, I have come up with the 5 things that I think should be on every real estate agent website. Now, there are of course more than 5 tips I could give you here, but some things are up to personal preference and don’t really NEED to be on the website. The 6 things I go over here are the things I think should go on EVERY agent’s website regardless of how they decide to go about personalizing it. Let’s get right into it.

#1 Listings Search

Make sure your site has the ability to search through listings! This one is pretty obvious as I think nearly all agents know this should be on every agents website. I think this because I see it on nearly all websites. It’s a given that the ability to search for homes is very important to have on a real estate website because agents are in the game of… you know… SELLING HOUSES. The main thing your client is looking for in your service is either to sell their home, or buy a new one. We’ll go over the selling later on, but for now, make sure you know that you make it easy for the buyers by providing a property search function on your website. Preferably right on the home page and not too far down the page.

#2 Contact Info Easily Accessible

Make sure that your contact info is easily accessible to the visitor at all times! I recommend finding a way to incorporate it into your header because the header is going to follow them around the whole site no matter where they go or what part of the site they’re on. If you don’t have your contact info in the header, be sure to have a “Contact” button in the header at the very bare minimum. And if you decide to go without the contact info in the header, I also recommend you put the contact in your site a few times, just to make sure the user can easily find it. Some may think I’m over emphasizing the importance of making the contact info visible, but from testing websites and taking feedback from users, the sites of agents that make contacting them very simple are the ones that win. One of the main reasons for this is because of how much easier it is for users to contact someone when the information is right in front of them when they think about contacting. It sounds crazy, but 1 or 2 clicks to get to the contact information will be enough for some visitors to longer be interested in contacting you to ask the questions they initially had. People are very impatient with websites and expect their wants and needs to be met near perfectly.

#3 Multiple Call To Actions

Make sure that your website has multiple call to actions, to the same thing(s)! Real estate is one of the industries where you want to get people to make some form of commitment to you as quickly as possible. For other industries it may be a bit pushy to constantly tell visitors to do something, but in real estate online marketing, those who don’t use their “call to actions” frequently through ought their site, lose to the ones that do. And just to clarify, the “Call To Action” is the part of marketing where you tell the user to do something. In real estate, for example, the popular call to actions are telling the visitor to “Search our listings” or “Call us today!” or “Get more information by clicking here!” These are just some examples and I’ve included an example below of another one I’ve seen on a realtor’s website.

Now that you know what a “Call To Action” or “CTA” is, make sure to put them all over your website. They need to be nicely incorporated in the design and site copy so they flow well and don’t come off as too pushy, but they definitely need to be there. It’s like that old saying of “All you have to do is ask.” Well, that’s the case when it comes to most website users. Unless they directly told to click/do something, they won’t do it. So, remind them through ought the site to contact you. A tip for making it fit into the copy without it sounding too forward and pushy is to to make sure that each CTA is customized to where it is on the site. For example, on your listings page you’ll likely want the CTA to say “Contact us so we can get started on finding your next home!” While on the sellers page, you would rather it say something like “Contact us and let’s work together on getting your home sold!” Saying “Contact Me” all over your site creates a bad user experience, while a custom CTA for where they are on the site provides a much better one.

#4 About Section & Info

Having an “About” section, or some section where the business explains who they are, what they do, and their background is essential for all businesses. This isn’t new at all and isn’t something that just came about in the technology age, this goes back to our basic human nature of being curious about what we’re truly getting involved in. We want to know who we’re dealing with, especially when we’re considering doing some form of business with them. This is especially true for the real estate business because buying and selling homes isn’t something the average person does very often. Whenever someone wants to buy/sell a home they either:

1. Have an agent they already know and use them
2. Have someone they trust refer an agent to them
3. Search for an agent on their own

Normally in the second scenario, the home buyer(s)/seller(s) will still want to know more about you and will probably visit your website to check into who you are and what you’re about as an agent. But this is almost DEFINITELY the case in the 3rd scenario. I don’t have experience selling real estate, but I do have lots of experience working with businesses and can say that there was never a time where someone wanted to give me, or another business I was around, a paycheck without doing some research into myself or the business. So, I’m sure it’s the same case with real estate, especially considering how big of a decision and action it is to buy/sell a home. They’re going to want to know about you, so make sure that info about you is on your site and where your visitors can easily find it.

Tip: A tip I have for you agents is to use video on your website on the home page or your about page, preferably the home page so all your visitors get a chance to see it. Invest a little bit of time and money into putting together a video that introduces your visitors into you, your business, and most importantly, how you can help them. It doesn’t have to be super fancy, just professional. Video has become huge today because video still captures people’s attention. With social media being as big as it has been for the last decade, people are just desensitized to photos and the photos just don’t have the same effect that they used to. I still recommend using photos all through ought your site because there is still is large benefit to using them (and you obviously don’t want your website, as a real estate agent, to have no images), but unless the photos are extraordinary, they shouldn’t stand alone and should instead work alongside a cool video that explains to the visitor what they would like to know. Not saying video is new, but there are surprisingly lots of businesses out there who are still not using the power of it and you having a cool informative video can put you ahead of the other agents your visitors are checking out, who don’t have one.

#5 Testimonials

Make sure your website has testimonials from your previous clients! I know this isn’t possible for agents who are just starting out in their career, and that’s okay. Just make it a priority to get those testimonials and up on your site as soon as you can as you begin helping more and more clients.

Testimonials are huge for the simple fact that they add credibility. Everything I’ve went over so far is something anyone can do. Anyone can create a website with a search function, contact info, call to actions, and about info. Those are still vital to having a good real estate agent website, but they only do so much for credibility. Someone like me isn’t going to read through the loads of testimonials and previous served clients some businesses choose to post, but I do like to look at the first couple and it gives me peace of mind knowing there’s even more. I won’t read them all, but I like to know they are there. The same goes for a lot of your potential clients that are visiting your website. They want to see previous people who were in their position, and came out highly satisfied on the other end. Seeing testimonials allows the viewer to imagine themselves in the shoes of the one giving the testimonial.

I could go on and on about this and how testimonials add to your credibility, but I’m sure you get the point. Get testimonials from your previous clients and with their permission, get them up on your site for your future clients to see!

Conclusion

And those are the 5 things I think should be on EVERY agents website. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at brandonuxdesign@gmail.com. I will also be writing more about both web design and real estate digital marketing. Til next time!