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Takeaways:
- Five common problems with real estate websites.
- How to correct those issues.
- The best ways to link to your website on various social media channels
If you’re unhappy with your real estate website, it’s probably for one reason — it isn’t generating enough leads. The prettiest website in the world isn’t a good investment unless it’s capturing and delivering you leads.
Here are five major reasons your real estate website isn’t generating enough leads and what you can do about it:
1. It’s not being found in search results
Ranking highly in Google search isn’t easy. There are SEO pros who have dedicated their careers to analyzing Google’s algorithm and finding ways for sites to rank higher.
But you don’t have to be an expert to know there’s one major factor that can impact your site’s Google success: content.
If you’ve ever searched “(Your City) real estate,” then you know what the top search results are: Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com. With the massive amounts of content and traffic these websites have, here’s a hard truth about ranking for generic terms such as this: It isn’t going to happen.
Your game plan for ranking in search results needs to be focused on “long-tail keywords,” or detailed search queries. Instead of writing about “Naples, Florida real estate,” write about the “best value condos in Pelican Bay” or “new construction in Naples Manor.”
These are the terms that serious homebuyers are searching when they know what area or type of property they desire. And remember, your search engine rankings won’t jump overnight. Traffic plays a huge role in rank, so direct people to your content pages through your social channels.
2. It doesn’t look good on mobile devices
Half of all homebuyers use a mobile device in their home search. If your website isn’t mobile-responsive, it’s likely that a lot of your website visitors are bouncing off your site after seeing how it renders on their mobile device.
Pinching and scrolling on a mobile phone in an attempt to read a website is frustrating, and visitors will likely choose to visit a site that’s easier to navigate.
Just because your website provider or designer uses a mobile-friendly theme doesn’t always mean your website pages are enjoyable to browse from a phone or tablet.
Check your website often from a mobile device to make sure new or updated pages are still rendering well. Rendering well means that text is the right size, images aren’t cut off, and any buttons are clickable.
3. You aren’t telling people to go there
Just because you have a website doesn’t mean people will visit it. You can’t magically jump to the top of Google searches, so you have to find other ways to drive traffic to your site and get it discovered.
Social media is a solid strategy for this. You should include a link to your website wherever you can. Here are some places you can include a clickable link to your site:
Facebook business page: To add a link to your website to the “About” section of your Facebook page, head to your page and click this section on the left-hand column of your page. You can add a link to your site to the “Website” section of this page. It will appear like this.
Pinterest business account: A link to your website can appear under your Pinterest profile image. Just head to your profile, then select the gear icon at the top right and click “Account settings.” Under the profile section, you can paste a link to your website. It will appear like this.
You can then verify your site by clicking “Confirm website,” copying the meta tag information and pasting it to the <head> section of the index.html section of your website. If you aren’t the webmaster or you use a website provider, reach out to them about adding the tag to your site. By confirming your website, your profile image will appear next to any pin that came from your site, and you’ll be able to access website analytics to see what people are pinning from your site.
Instagram: Log in to the Instagram app and navigate to your personal profile. Click “Edit Your Profile.” Underneath your name and username, you can paste in your website link. This link will appear under your bio on your profile.
Twitter: From your Twitter profile page, click “Edit profile.” Under your bio and location, you can paste in a link to your website. It will appear as a clickable link from the Twitter app and in browsers.
Google Plus: For a personal page, head to the “Links” section of your profile and click “Edit.” You can then add a custom link to your website that will appear in this section. If you have a Google Plus business page, here are some steps to link your website to your page.
4. It’s disorganized
You’ve probably noticed a shift in Web design to a super simple style. Gone are the days of side bars with hundreds of buttons and links on them.
Most company websites have transitioned to a simple, responsive theme with a clear top navigation and links to the most important pages on their site.
Any pages with lead capture opportunities (your blog, e-book landing pages or contact forms) should be easy to find. This is where you want to direct your traffic, so getting there should be easy.
If you have targeted neighborhood pages or blog posts, you want those to be clearly marked as well. These specific pages are what set you apart from the giant portals, so driving traffic there is important.
5. There’s no lead capture, or it’s hard to find
If there’s no easy way for website visitors to give you their contact information, your site isn’t going to generate many leads. Sure, a visitor could look for your email address and contact you that way, but you want to place the barrier for entry to your contact database as low as possible.
It’s helpful to test lead capture as well, so don’t be afraid to try different options, such as a traditional sidebar, pop-up options such as SumoMe or a top navigation form like Hello Bar.
Small changes such as placement, button color and call-to-action text can make a big difference in conversion rates and lead numbers, so test and test until you find something that works.
Once you set up lead capture on your website, share those pages on social channels. Now, when someone on Twitter sees a blog post you shared that caught their eye, they can easily subscribe to your blog after they click through it.
You’ve proven to be a reliable source of relevant information, and now you have their contact information to keep in touch with them.
Using these tips to clean up and link back to your website, you will notice a difference in your Web traffic. Be ready to convert those leads into sales.
Erica Tafavoti is the inbound marketer at Pipeline ROI. You can follow her on Twitter.
