12 Important Features for Your Real Estate Website Design
With the restrictions caused by the ongoing pandemic and the fact that the real estate business is very competitive, your business has never needed a strong digital presence more. This includes having a website that works well. Good websites lower the number of people who leave and help get more people to sign up. Adding these 12 important features to your real estate website design will help your business stand out.
#1 Simple navigation
When people looking for a real estate agent visit your website, you want to make it as simple as possible for them to find the information they need. Because of this, your website should be easy to use and available to all. Customers will go somewhere else if certain features are too hard to find on your site.
Unless you are a real estate specialist, your website should have the following:
About: A potential client wants to know who they are dealing with. In the "About" section, you can list the people on your team, what each of them has done, and some information about the agency itself.
Listings: Depending on your agency's size and the number of properties you represent, you need a real estate listing section that stands out. What kinds of homes are for sale or rent? Differentiate between different kinds of properties, like houses, condos, commercial properties, and industrial properties.
Guides: You should have two different guides, one for buyers and one for sellers. These tell possible clients about the process they will go through if they work with your agency. Putting the steps out clearly can help clients understand how you will work with and for them.
Financing: Not all real estate agencies offer to finance, but many do because they have close relationships with banks that offer mortgages and property loans. A client might choose your agency because you have a superior working relationship with one of these institutions.
Blogs: Posts on a blog are a good way to get people to visit your main site. The posts can be about anything, like the prices of homes in the area, how to get money, or even how the weather is in the area. Blogs can help first-time homebuyers or people from out of state who want to move to your area by giving them useful information.
Contact: It's important to make it easy for clients to get in touch with you. But in today's world, that means giving more than just an email address and phone number. Future lead capture needs to be available in a variety of ways to talk. A potential buyer may prefer one way to contact you over another. Giving them a choice will make your real estate website stronger. Technology like VoIP phones can help with this. In real estate, how do VoIP phones work? By letting clients use different devices to call your listed number.
#2 Advanced search options
Most real estate agencies have a lot of properties on their books at any given time. Simple categories like "rent vs. buy," "house vs. condo," etc., may be enough for a simple search, but most people looking to buy or rent want their ideal property to have certain features. An "advanced search" feature lets them narrow down long lists of properties to a shorter list of ones they might be interested in. Some of these are:
Type of property: house, condo, apartment, villa, business, etc.
The number of bedrooms and bathrooms: Let potential clients choose a minimum number of bedrooms and bathrooms that they want.
Garden or outdoor space: Allow potential buyers to search for properties with outdoor spaces.
Budget: A client's budget will always be a big part of their choice, so help them narrow down their options to what they might be able to afford.
Area or neighborhood: Potential buyers often want to live in a certain area (or close to it), so they should also be able to search by area.
House/lot area: Space is often another important factor, both inside and out, so adding this can be a big help.
This can be something like a swimming pool, a grilling area, or certain amenities in a condo building.
#3 Map location
You can tell potential customers the whole story when you link your listings to Google Maps. With a detailed map, they can see how far away the property is from things like schools and major transportation hubs.
Google Maps has a static map that is easy to understand and use, but you should go one step further. You could mark local services and amenities on an aerial photograph of the area, have a graphic designer make a custom-illustrated map, or use real estate mapping software to make an interactive map with the right information.
#4 Responsive design
Your website should have a responsive design for a number of reasons. First and foremost, this kind of design makes the user's experience better. When people visit your website and find it easy to use and fun, they are more likely to stay there.
A responsive website design can also make it easier for people to use your site in many ways. It lets them move quickly and smoothly between images and can show them comparisons of properties so they can look at the features of different homes. Making a good website is difficult, so you should talk to a real estate website builder with a good track record.
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#5 Community and neighborhood guides
You may need to include this in your blogs, but community and neighborhood guides can also be a great tool for people who visit your site. It lets people who are moving from another state or city see what your neighborhoods have to offer.
When you put together your guides, keep in mind that your potential clients come from all kinds of groups. Do market research or hand out survey forms to your current audience to understand better what kinds of guides they might be interested in.
Examples of common information could be:
Schools, colleges, and universities close to home
Places to have fun, like parks, golf courses, etc.
Facilities for sports like gyms, football stadiums, places to do water sports, etc.
Include everything from local businesses to the nearest convenience stores, malls, and places to have fun. Make a list of the best places to eat and have fun, like concert halls and nightclubs.
Community groups: A lot of people like to feel like they belong to a group. Your guide could list any groups or charities in your area that are looking for new members.
Youth groups: If your area has places or groups for young people, like the Scouts or youth sports, let families know.
Transportation: People will need transportation whether they live in a city or a suburb. This could mean being close to a highway, a public transportation hub, or even an airport.
Miscellaneous: Your area may be unique in some ways, like being close to national parks. If that's the case, you should also put these in bold.
One thing to remember is that things you mark in your guides might change over time. There may be new places to go or things to do, and old ones may close. Set up reminders to go back and update your guides often. If you want help figuring out where to start, ESP Webzing can help. By claiming your free Business Page, you can talk to your neighbors to see what they recommend in your area.
Guids are important for more than just giving important information. They show potential clients that you care about the communities you serve and have strong ties to them. Even in our globalized world, people still want to work with companies that care about their local area. Community or neighborhood guides are a great way to get ahead of the competition.
#6 Photographs and videos
Visual media like photos, videos, and sometimes VR tours are a big part of selling a house. When used with detailed descriptions, high-quality photos help clients narrow their choices to the properties they want to see. Good, relevant photos of the property are a big part of getting people interested in buying it.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, real estate companies have had to focus even more on making their online presence better. Due to the skyrocketing demand, buyers are in a hurry to invest in property, so they rely more on detailed visual media. Also, virtual tours have become more popular because of the need for social distancing.
Make sure the photos have a good resolution and fit your site's design. Also, make sure you show all the rooms and amenities. Clients might not be interested in a condo unit that is for sale but doesn't have any pictures of the actual unit. In the modern world, walk-through videos of properties can be a big help and give your clients a better idea of how a property feels overall.
#7 Contact forms
Having good contact forms is important for two reasons. First, it's easy for people interested in a property to let you know without having to call or email. If it's on the actual listing, it tells you what property they're interested in, how to get in touch with them, and when you should do so.
Second, a contact form can tell you what a potential customer is looking for, even if you still need to list it. It can help you keep a client that you might have lost otherwise.
#8 Mobile compatibility
People used to only go online on their desktop computers, but those days are long gone. Today, you can browse the Internet almost anywhere and on almost any device. So, a client could be looking for their dream home on their smartphone or tablet.
So, it's up to you to ensure that your website is as easy to use and understand on all of these devices. That could mean making a version of your site just for mobile devices or implementing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) in place. By using AMPs, website content can load faster on mobile devices by limiting the use of HTML/CSS and JavaScript, which are very heavy.
No matter what you decide, you must pay attention to mobile web design and compatibility.
#9 Internet data exchange integration
Broker Reciprocity is another name for Internet Data Exchange (IDX). IDX is a rule in the multiple listing service (MLS) that lets real estate agencies in the same area that have signed up for the service share listings. Most of these are cloud-based automation systems.
But in the real estate business, the term IDX is also used to describe the different tools and software that let you:
MLS listings should be shown on your websites.
Clients should be able to look for active listings (thus updating from your active database)
Give clients the choice of which agencies their information is shared with to protect their information.
#10 Local search engine optimization
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a way to make your website appear more in search results. Having your real estate website show up on the first page of Google is the best way to get leads that will pay off for years to come.
For SEO to work, you need to make sure that your website has interesting content that helps answer the searcher's question. Your website also needs to load quickly. By optimizing the code and structure of your web pages, you can make it easy for Google or another search engine to find your site. Adding new information about your business to local directory listings is another way to make it more visible in your area. The search engine ranking of a real estate agent's website can be improved by putting your website's URL and contact information on Facebook, Yelp, and Google My Business.
#11 Client testimonials
Let the words of happy clients speak for themselves on your website page just for that purpose. If a potential client is looking at homes on your website or wants to learn more about you, they may be persuaded to hire you by reading testimonials from past clients. Need help figuring out where to begin? Check your ESP Webzing Business Page for suggestions from people in your area. You can write back to each neighbor who told you about you and ask if you can put their recommendation on your website.
#12 Safety first
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on real estate, just as it has on other industries. People still have to buy or rent places to live. The people in the real estate business need to make sure that these steps are as safe as possible. A COVID-19 safety section on your website can be helpful, even if it's a temporary solution. Include what your business does to make sure customers are safe, like:
No shaking hands
Both agents and clients should always wear masks.
Giving them masks, hand sanitizer, and safety tips
Getting as few people as possible to a viewing. Tell parents to leave their kids at home or with a relative.
Observing social distancing
Whenever possible, talk and negotiate through video conferencing or the phone.
Adding more walk-through videos to reduce the number of views
Getting to any showings on their own
Having clients sign documents in the case, they need to be tracked down
Leaving time between viewings so that surfaces, door handles, etc., can be cleaned and sanitized.
Following these simple rules can keep everyone safe and still do business. You can even build a good marketing campaign around the features of your site. Keep in mind the most important thing is to pay close attention to local rules and find ways to be flexible. Let your clients know that their safety is your top priority.
Conclusion
When you run a real estate business, you must do many different things at once. When things get too hard, looking into the best free software for small and medium-sized businesses is always a good idea. You can work on other parts of the business, like improving the online experience for potential customers.
Adding the above 12 features to your real estate website will make it easier for people to use. By giving your neighbors a good online experience, you not only make them happier but also make it more likely that a visitor will become a client; go to website