The real estate business industry in Canada over the course of time has remained a booming concern. Prices soar, values amplify and wealth expands. However, like all other areas, the opportunity is only there if you know how to harvest it. And in the present day, there is no better harvesting tool than digital marketing. More specifically, those dynamic virtual worlds that we can’t do without; websites. For all those aspiring to real estate success, here is the 20 best ways to really enhance, your real estate website.
Optimized the Photography
Prospects believe what they see. Chances are the higher the quality of the images, the more a prospect is won over. So when designing your website, make sure it is tailored for high quality pictures. The properties that are visited the most are the ones that appear the best. Make sure your pictures are high quality and bring out the best features of the listing. Also size matters, larger pictures are easier to look at closely.
Promotional videos
Pictures are worth a thousand words. A video is worth millions, quite literally. Promotional videos are another important beacon for drawing in customers. Create informative and enjoyable videos for your website and it’ll certainly improve the outlook of your business.
Social Media Integration
Social media today is the first line of marketing for business. Hence for a real estate firm, it is important that your websites fuses with your social media strategy. Tools such as direct share options or the likes can help you reach a larger audience. In some cases browsers just want to see that you are active. Active social media can suggest an active business.
Featured listings
Here’s another way for directing customers to what they want the most. Featured listings allow particular properties to be highlighted and stay atop the search results. It enables sellers to better broadcast the property they are most trying to sell. As well it makes the best deals and the most attractive properties more visible to browsers.
Community pages
Community pages are essentially digital forums that connect people with a similar interest. In the case of real estate websites, this translates to giving buyers and sellers platforms to interact. This serves a key purpose; it gives prospects a better idea of who they are dealing with. What makes it even more important is the avenue for promoting better buyer-seller relations.
Interactive text
Going back to our very first point, people won’t buy unless they like what they see. Modern technology makes it easier for buyers to see a lot of properties. There are many ways to brighten up your site. Interactive text is one very good example. Make sure there is ample display of innovative layouts and fonts. A creative presentation of your deals is sure way to strike the right chord with buyers.Placester.com does a detailed review of what makes a website beautiful, you can find the review here.
Mobile optimization
This is one of the major requirements of modern day websites and it applies to just about everything. When creating a site for your real estate firm, it is an absolute essential that the site is optimized for mobile platforms.
If you are pleased with your website, let customers carry it everywhere.More on the importance of mobile optimization here by Scube.
Lead capture
This could be a contact, a meeting with a potential client or a lead picked up at an open house. It is important to rope in as many of these as possible. Include features on your website that enable you to capture of more leads. Once you have a lead you need a process them to move them along the purchasing cycle. Contests, calls to action, promotions, event and numerous other features can serve to move your leads towards becoming a buyer. When the time is right, they will think of you.
Good CRM
This of course stands for customer relationship management. Anyone and everyone knows properly analyzing customer interactions is crucial. As a real estate company, it’s important to put your website to good use for this. Your various leads can be arranged and studied through digital software and the patterns taken into consideration. Giving you exactly what you need to improve your relationship with customers.Technology Advice have a review on the best CRM software out there that you can check out here.
Retargeting
Again we go back to the importance of studying your audience. It’s pointless targeting people who harbor little interest in your offerings. Retargeting allows you to obtain the internet activity of potential customers and then modify your website according to that. This ensures your website is pitching to the right prospects.
Visitor registration
Here’s a way of pursuing those people who are already attracted to your offerings. Keeping logs of who are regularly visiting your site has a major plus. It allows the company to follow up on those who are possibly interested. And stand a greater chance of tuning that interest into a buy. It also gives you a sense of which market segments are not visiting your site.
Landing pages
A landing page is what prospects see first when they navigating your site. It is separate from the main webpage and designed for a specific function. This function can often be getting people to subscribe to your newsletter or however else you attempt to capture leads. In other words, if you properly optimize your landing page you identify new leads.
Landing page reviews
Creating a great landing page is great. But what is even better is having it reviewed on a popular website or business blog. Numerous specialists such as “Kickofflabs” were created to do just this. Getting a positive score on one of these will certainly serve your site and your business well.Kickofflab’s in depth look at what makes the best landing page can be viewed here.
Use of seller magnets
A seller magnet is basically a technology that allows you to capture a visitor’s email address even if they do not fill out that form. Then you can obtain all your leads available in a convenient form. Something which saves the prospects time but still achieves your goal, it is truly, another must have.
Farming pages
Some people will tell you this is a kind of spamming. Others, us included, say it helps business. Farming pages refer to a group of websites that are hyperlinked to each other. Having a battery of sites that lead to your real estate hub, is a sure shot way of boosting traffic.
Be Google ready
Ah yes Google, the modern individual’s all time companion. If you want to appeal to these individuals, make sure your site is tailor made for Google. This refers to aspects such as getting a Google button and optimizing your content so it will rank well on a Google search. You should specially focus on ranking above your main rivals. Google is sure to be one of the major ways that prospects initiate their property searches. This is how your website and your business can catch hold of them of prospects.
Having a call to action (CTA)
A call to action or CTA is a link that turns a unknown prospect into a active lead. Anything ranging from making an appointment to attending an open house or getting a free property valuation can be used as a CTA. Owing to convenience, these useful buttons have become indispensible to business.Hubspot does a nice summary of what a good CTA looks like.
Having a playbook
You must have fixed standards and guidelines for your business to flourish. A playbook does just that. Designed as a blueprint to clearly outline your business practices, it helps streamline companies. This is why you must use your website to broadcast and implement these strategy outlines. Strategy is how you focus on certain prospects ahead of others. Your playbook shares this with potential clients.
Good loading speed
This needs little or no explanation. Nobody and we mean nobody will ever bother with a website that takes too long to load. Chances are they won’t bother with the company who made it either. So be sure to get your technical aspects right so as to create a smooth running site.
Easy navigation
Lastly we will be talking about the thing that often becomes a customer’s bane. There is very little that annoys them more than a website that is painful to figure out. It is a business crime to have a site that is not properly arranged and categorized and that is too confusing.
For a look at all the right features put together in a real estate website, check out Webby Awards’ winners for best real estate website last year.
The real estate industry is exceptionally competitive. You must stand out, you must show prospects that you are a success. You must impress them quickly and capture critical information about your leads. Real estate companies that use their website to engage prospects, have a better chance of success. A website is a critical weapon in your battle. Get it right and you may just hit the jackpot.