I think it’s safe to say most real estate agents and brokers have a website. Unfortuntaly many of these sites look the same as they did a year ago or even worse 5 or 10 years ago.
Over the years I have seen a number of awesome real estate websites. I have also seen some that are not so great.
Here are 5 problems I see with a lot of real estate sites:
- You can’t update your site without a tech guy or gal.
- You sound like everyone else.
- You don’t have any customer interaction.
- It’s all about you.
- Your content is stagnant
Unfortunately a lot of agents create a site and then never look back. Before you get on Facebook, Twitter or blogging, I highly recommend you look at your website. I think a lot of real estate agents are afraid of doing a website overhaul. They fear the time and money it could take. The great thing is that it is even easier than ever to create a great looking website for not that much money!
Here is your checklist of what you need to do to re-haul your site. Note – I’m keeping this really simple on purpose. If it becomes too complicated you won’t do it – I know I wouldn’t!!
1. Say no to clip art and any other animated features on your site. No more twirling houses, no more “cool” weather or traffic updates, nothing else that screams 1996. 
I recommend you hire a professional graphic designer to create some unique designs for you. Not sure who to hire? Call your local design school – many times students are the best and least expensive because they are building their portfolio! I recommend having a designer create a clean and simple logo – nothing too complicated or cartoonish – think of the Nike swoosh! SIMPLE!
2. Take a look at every link and page of content on your site. I bet you have a bunch of “stock” pages on your site right now. Boring!! On your new site – commit to writing your own content. Many agents will say they are not writers – I challenge you to take a stab at writing your pages. Why? Because you have the personal experience to make these pages relevant and in your voice. If you truly do not like writing, you can always hire a freelance writer. Craigslist is a great place to look for a freelance writer – but make sure you see samples of their work.
3. Think of the process of working with a client – this is how you know what content you need! Start at the beginning when someone first meets you (this is your About page and Testimonial page) – walk through the whole process for buyers and sellers (including questions you always get asked, like “who pays for what”) – those are the pages you should have on your site! Think like a client and what they really want to know about. Outline the steps your buyers and sellers go through – that is a great starting point for the content on your site.
4. Have a compelling reason for everything on your site. If there is no reason to have something on your site then take it off! This is the time to clean house. No one likes a cluttered house and no one likes a cluttered website. If someone can’t find what they need quickly they leave! Think of how you advise your clients to stage a home – this is how your site should look.
5. On your home page and “contact you” button should be links to your Facebook business page and Twitter feed – easy to find!
6. Take a new agent photo. If you have a really outdated photo (you know who you are!) then spend a couple hundred bucks and get a new photo taken. Not sure where to go? The Picture People have a nice business package that is affordable and easy to do!
7. Less about you – more about them. You really don’t need to list every class and every single home you’ve sold. If you ask a lot of people, the word “ego” comes to mind when they think of real estate agents. Tell people what you can do for them – give them lots of examples and testimonials and provide them a way to communicate with you and interact with you. This is one of the main reasons Corcoran got on Twitter – they realized their website was stagnant and they needed a way to connect and communicate with their clients quickly and in real time.
8. Get personal. Add some personal elements of who you are any why people should work with you. I love this video on Renee Fishman’s home page that showcases her and her clients but also it lets you see who she is and her personality. Along with that, make sure you add some content about your community and why you love working in the area you do.
9. Get your site on a platform YOU can edit. You want to be able to go in and add content as needed. I highly recommend the WordPress.com platform to start – it’s super easy to use and then you can always move to WordPress.org which is more robust. Once you are ready to make the switch you may want to hire a WordPress expert (again, check on Craigslist) to help you make the switch. I’ve always helped create a ton of websites using Jimdo.com – a super easy site with very professional templates and very easy to control.
10. IDX feed. I know every MLS is different but if your MLS allows it, I highly recommend you get an IDX feed to your website so people can do a property search on your site.
This is just the starting point – I haven’t even touched on SEO or analytics or video or blogging….. but this is a easy place to start, right? And let’s face it, if we don’t make it easy – we won’t do it.
I really encourage you to have 2011 be the year that your website improves!
Need some inspiration?
Here are a few great agent sites that I feel encompass many of the things I talk about above:
What do you think? I’d love your opinion – leave me your comments below with a link to your site!
Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News @katielance
February 17, 2011 at 7:46 am
Great ideas presented in your post. We designed for the clean Google-style home page that has received praise from clients and visitors.
February 17, 2011 at 9:36 am
Great post Katie. The issue with creating a website and not looking back isn’t that you end up losing ads so much as that you make yourself look unprofessional and get a bad reputation if you don’t respond to messages and other things. It is actually worse to get started and never follow through. I also agree with the fact that professionals need to focus on the site visitors not themselves. Too many website owners get that part wrong. Thanks for the tips on making a successful real estate website.
February 17, 2011 at 9:58 am
Katie, These are some great tips for the do-it-yourselfer…
However, there are a ton of affordable options online to have a website built for you with all the bells & whistles.
I recently did a post about a easy way to find a great real estate website online.
February 17, 2011 at 11:44 am
This is so helpful! Especially Renee’s video. We’ve been playing with the idea of doing testimonials through video, but this is a great way to integrate the agent in the video, and make the video engaging.
February 17, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Are there any stats on how many views or what percentage of buyers visit an individual agent site compared to a brokerage site, a corporate site like Remax or Century21 and the Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com sites?
February 18, 2011 at 5:23 am
Just re-designed our Company website in WordPress and implemented most of the things on your list. Hopefully, refining it this weekend for it’s official launch but let me know what you think, if you care to take a look? Thanks for all the great information!
February 18, 2011 at 8:39 am
Great post! Website is a very important aspect of real estate marketing, and your tips will definitely help a lot of people trying to stand out. Adding on to your post, there are many other tools you can use to enhance your website. Check out some of these marketing tools for realtors!
February 18, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Great list – it’s funny how so many of these things sound obvious once you lay them out, but are often overlooked in the website design process. One thing I would add is a caveat to number 5 – links to your social media are great, but if not implemented properly can actually push visitors away from your site. We find a lot of our customers are much happier to showcase their social media and neighborhood info directly on their site with a TurnSocial bar, keeping traffic where they want it the most.
I definitely agree with your WordPress endorsement as a platform – very user friendly and perfect for non-programmer types (which is why we built a plugin as well!) Thanks for the solid advice!
February 18, 2011 at 3:41 pm
I think adding content is the most important
part of maintaining a website and with blogging now so easy to do and post, it just makes sense.
I like to create a site that is unique to you and the area. Informative content about the area, housing, etc is always appropriate.
I will be adding some more ideas from your post.
Thanks,
Annette
February 19, 2011 at 7:24 am
Great post. I have been studying this topic for some time now. I have had some fear of what to do because there are so many choices. I am switching from my own small brokerage to affiliate with a large local brokerage. Their template site is elaborate but not personal. I reall like your suggestions, and I may incorporate them in my own personal website in conjunction with the new broker website.
February 19, 2011 at 10:10 am
I used wordpress for my website. It is not that hard to learn. Visitors always want to know ‘what’s new’, so having a platform to easily update content is important.
February 19, 2011 at 11:58 am
Adding original content is key. good thoughts here
February 19, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Having control of your site is critical. That way you can add the content, keyword it, and take ownership of the content. Some Realtor firms want you to use their template and you don’t have much control to add or subtract or create. This won’t help you. Keep it simple, add content, and comment on other’s blogs, and stay consistent. It’ll build slow but steady.
california real estate loan
February 20, 2011 at 11:44 am
I would love a review of my site, I think it is pretty great!
Great blog post, with practical advice that is not too difficult to implement!
February 21, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Katie, I agree completely with having control or at least access to your site’s pages. I know I have made expensive errors in the past and hope people will read this before they do the same because wordpress is so easy to use and google loves it!
February 21, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Hey thanks for the great points, I try to update my site on a monthly basis and have been doing so for years. I think you just have to make it part of your plan to constantly improve, if you try to do it all at once you get bogged down and as you know we got in this business because we love being out helping people not sitting on a computer working on our website. I made 4 notes from the article that I plan to implement right away, check out my site http://www.DavidWertan.com as I get tons of business from it on a regular basis.
February 22, 2011 at 5:12 pm
#7 is definitely the key – and also the simplest and hardest, I think.
February 22, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Jim, I saw your last website and it looks great. I am looking forward to seeing your wordpress site. Relatively new in real estate (4 years), I’ve just decided to create my wordpress site. I am not a computer guy, but wordpress is terrific. I don’t know what I can offer you in help, but I bought the Thesis theme for wordpress and it is terrific. If you get a chance, I would love some constructive criticism on my site… I am trying to implement the GSMLS IDX into my property search page, but I have found a clever alternative…
February 22, 2011 at 9:48 pm
I agree with the keep it simple and design it for them concept. Users have sent emails complimenting on the simplicity and ease of finding information on my site. Updates are quick and simple. My traffic has improved dramatically and so has my Alexa ranking. I am so pleased with the design company that I help other Realtors get a site of their own: http://www.computertshooter.com/RealEstate.html
February 24, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Very solid advice! I love the idea of agents writing their own content. I write my own content and it certainly forces me to stay in tune with my market! The videos are great. Google and people love video; it’s real and it’s personal. Great post, Katie.
February 25, 2011 at 10:57 am
Thank you for some great and fairly easy to follow advice. I’m just getting started and the web page has been a problem.
February 25, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Great Post Katie,
Thanks for keeping it simple but hitting on all the major elements of a great website. I just launched my new WordPress Based Site http://SearchBigBearRealEstate.com and it sets a new benchmark for our local area of Big Bear Lake California. I wish I had read your post when I was in the development stages of building my new site. I would have done a couple of things differently. For instance, I still need to implement item #5 from your list above. Chris Smith from http://techsavvyagent.com gave me the exact same pointer when he looked at my site recently.
February 26, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Katie this is a great post! And THANK YOU for mentioning/linking to me!
February 27, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Hi Katie,
I love following your posts and learning new information. I would love to have input and comments on our company website! http://www.southport-realty.com .
I looked over the websites you mentioned and I agree, they are very nice!
February 27, 2011 at 9:48 pm
My Partner Michael Friedenberg , his wife and I spent a year designing his new website to be a hub of information, easy to use and aesthetically like no other Real Estate Website. We use a drupal template so we can constantly be revising and improving the information and layout.
It has been a labour of love. Please check it out.
Thanks for your input on best ways to improve your website.
*Sarah.
February 28, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Love the ideas. I have been working on real estate website and I waiting for an IDX solution soon.
March 6, 2011 at 8:44 am
Great points Katie! I’d like to mention, from my admittedly slightly biased point of view, that any photos that you post on your site should be professionally done or look like they were professionally done. Nothing can bring down the look of a site more than to have photos with slanting walls, too dark or light, or off color. Make the photos look good, you owe it to yourself and your clients!
March 28, 2011 at 7:59 am
Great article! I heard the other day that about 80% of customers will look at a company’s website before purchasing or hiring… a good website is so important! I think this Apartments Charlotte website does a good job of utilizing most of the suggestions you talked about.
April 22, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Interesting Blog. Great Post. Thanks for sharing with us.
June 11, 2011 at 7:37 am
Well said, I’m in total agreement about getting your site onto a platform that is easily editable. I grew very tired of having to ask someone’s permission to change my own site! I’m on WordPress now and love it. Not to say that my site couldn’t use improvement, but at least I’ll be able to make it better without an IT specialist.