Nearly every real estate professional out there has a website, but only a handful of those websites are generating traffic and most importantly, leads.
If your website is done right, it can be a lead generating machine. If it’s done wrong, it can end up in the “Google graveyard” bringing in no traffic and no benefit to you. Here are 10 reasons your real estate website may not be working — and how to fix it.
1. It’s outdated
First impressions are everything, and if your website looks like it was built in 2001, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. If your website is painfully outdated, your website visitors are probably taking one look at it and then heading onto the next.
With so many website builder services available online these days, creating a clean and modern website has never been easier. And now is the time to do it!
2. It’s designed poorly
If your website is missing a well-structured navigation bar or clear calls to action, your website is not doing its job. Think about the process that you want people to take through your site. Is it easy to find the property search? What about your contact page?
Get clear about the path that you want website visitors to take through your website, and make sure that it is designed to funnel them through that process.
3. It has no content
If your homepage has nothing more than a paragraph of text, or your About Us page features a lone headshot, your website has no chance of growing its audience. At the very least, each page of your website should have well-written text, detailed descriptions and quality photos.
If you want your website to become a lead generating machine, start creating pages for each neighborhood in your area, building landing pages for people who are relocating, or writing blog posts that answer the most common questions you get asked. The more you provide, the more value people will find!
4. It has no IDX feed
There is nothing worse than a real estate website with no real estate on it. Your website absolutely needs an IDX feed to pull all of the active listings in your area.
A manually updated list of your listings, or a selection of featured listings in your area will not cut it. Without an IDX feed, your site has no value to potential clients.
Talk to your website developer about integrating an IDX feed into your site, or choose an online website builder that specializes in real estate websites.
5. Your contact information is hard to find
If a visitor has to spend more than a few seconds looking for your phone number or email address on your website, your website is not working for you! You can have content, IDX feeds and a slick website design, but what’s the point if no one can contact you?
Make sure that your contact information is clearly displayed throughout your website, and make sure its easy to use. Clickable phone numbers and hyperlinked email addresses make it easy for people to get in touch with you, bringing more clients and leads straight to you.
6. It is not engaging
Does the design and layout of your website encourage people to stick around and engage? Or does it leave them wondering where to go next? Just as the content on your website is extremely important, so is the way it is laid out.
You want your website to be an engaging mix of content, photos, calls to action and blurbs clearly drawing the visitor into the different sections of your site.
7. There are no lead captures
When it comes to generating leads with your website, you should at the very least have information requests on property pages. But that is just a starting point!
Think about all the different types of people that may come to your website. Are they relocating to the area? Looking for a second home? Thinking of selling their home? Looking for investments?
Creating multiple lead captures throughout your website to answer all of these different needs is one of the best things you can do to put your website to work.
8. It has no community information
How many questions do you get asked about different neighborhoods in your area? Does your website have any of that information available? Remember that not many people know an area better than a seasoned real estate agent.
Think about the knowledge you have of your city, the amenities, drawbacks and different profiles of each neighborhood and add that information to your website! Not only will that make you seem like an area expert, it will bring in visitors who would not have ended up on your website otherwise.
9. You haven’t paid any attention to SEO
If you are asking yourself the question “what’s SEO?” then your website definitely not working for you the way that it should. Search engine optimization (SEO) is steps and strategies you can take to boost your websites presence on search engines.
If your market is reasonably competitive and you haven’t made any SEO effort, your website is probably sitting in what they call the “Google graveyard.”
There are a number of ways you can start to improve your SEO on your own. Or if it all seems too daunting, we recommend passing it off to your marketing team or hiring someone who specializes in digital marketing.
10. You don’t look at Google Analytics
What’s the point in driving traffic to your website if you don’t know how it is working? Google Analytics is the way for you to see how people are engaging with your website, who those people are, where they are coming from, and what pages they are visiting.
It is the best tool you can use to figure out what is working and what is not, what pages of your website to promote, and how to continue to improve your website.
Kate Hulbert is the marketing director at Bozeman Real Estate Group in Bozeman, Montana. Follow her on Instagram or Facebook.
