Not all websites are created equal. Different websites require different key elements, as nearly every designer and SEO will agree. When you are crafting a website that sells a tangible product such as a software package, the way in which you approach it will be vastly different from selling holiday lighting.
The same thing holds true for website design for real estate. When you are designing a website for real estate, the elements that you add are going to be different from those that you add for another site. There are several elements that are key to the success of a website designed to sell real estate. Those elements must be in place for your site to convert traffic efficiently and to take the traffic you draw in and make it into customers.
Your site visitors need to be able to easily navigate the site to find precisely what they are looking for when they visit. Ideally they will be able to quickly and easily find the means to contact you to ask you any questions they may have about your company or about selling or buying a home.
If the navigation on your site is difficult to use or circuitous in nature, you’re making it more difficult for your customers to find the listings they need, and you’re sending them off to another website. To avoid losing your customers to your competition, here are a few essential elements of a real estate website that are necessary for you to draw in the customers you want and keep them on your website.
Your website needs to look good. It needs an impressive design and a good speedy load.
That sounds like a statement of the obvious, but it would surprise you how many sites are so full of bells and whistles that they look good but are too slow to actually use well. Your customers are basing their decisions on  whether or not to use you on your website. It is their first contact with you, so they will make up their mind instantly whether or not they trust you based on the design, the navigation, the speed and several other factors.
Does the site use colors that make it appear to be trustworthy? Does it offer information that is up to date and appears reliable in every way? Can they find a way to contact you as quickly as they want? All of the questions here are in your customers’ minds. They are looking for a way to reach you, for the information they need to search for homes and for the best real estate company to help them.
If your site doesn’t look professional, they are going to find one that does. In much the same way that they may not trust you if you came to visit them wearing dirty clothing that looked as if you had slept in it, if your site isn’t professional, clean and easy to use, your customers have no reason to trust that you take any more care with them than you have with your website.
The fact is that a real estate agent who builds his own site is the same thing as a homeowner who sells his own home. He may get the job done, but the end result may not be the best that he can get. Using a professional website designer is the best way to ensure that your real estate website is professional, fast and easy to use, and that will lead to the kind of solid conversions you need.
Your real estate website needs an IDX so you can get the real estate leads.
The primary reason your customers are visiting your site is so they can search for a new home. Your task is to make it very easy for them to do that. If you do, the site user will use the site and the offerings to his or her best advantage. WordPress offers an IDX plugin that can be used to make the search easy for you to implement and easy for your customers to search.
Use testimonials on your site. Testimonials tell the prospective customer that you’re trustworthy.
While it’s not a mandatory thing, displaying customer testimonials from past clients is a great idea to get you new customers. If customers feel you’ve done a great job for others, they are going to trust you to do that for them. Your past customers and what they have to say about you are going to be your best advertising.
Use a great About Us page.
No matter who lands on your page they want to know something about you. Telling them who you are, who works with you, what you’ve done and the kind of real estate you are responsible to buy and sell is a great way to help them get to know you. The average customer wants to read more about you and your company, and they want to understand why you are the best option for them.
Display your Contact Information prominently and frequently.
Every page should have a way to contact your company. Whether the visitor is seeing the about us page or other pages, they should be able to quickly and readily find a way to contact you and your company. If they can’t find that or it’s not displayed reasonably, the customer will typically find some way to contact your competition.
Your real estate website will shine if you have all the previously mentioned items showing on your site. Your prospective customers will know that you are able to be contacted, able to be trusted and that they can easily search your site. If all of those things are true, the chances are good that you’re going to be their real estate company of choice.
