This is the sequel to our last blog Why Does Good Website Design Matter In Real Estate. If you haven’t read it, we recommend doing so.

Now that you understand why your real estate website should be working for you, the real challenge begins: how do you make it better? The tools and design ideas below can help elevate your agent or agencies website and make it a glorified lead magnet.

• Use a lot of details — A house is a huge investment for buyers and sellers. For a buyer, they want all the information they can get before buying a house. For a seller, they want to know how you can get them the best deal. When you add listings to your website, make sure it has all relevant facts that a prospective client will look for. These include the basics such as number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage, but also the details you don’t see in every house. What makes the house unique compared to others. If you have a video walkthrough of the property, be sure to incorporate it as well. By making information available on your website, users are more likely to return or refer you because of the value you can provide upfront.

• Use calls-to-action — A great real estate website designs uses CTA’s in a strategic way to generate leads. These buttons are placed throughout a website and tell users what you want them to do next, whether that’s getting in touch, call you, email you, or set up a meeting. Be sure to make yours stand out by choosing bold colors and effective copy. Focused and action-driven phrases are more likely to generate conversions. Tell your audience what you want the to do.

• Include an MLS — Adding an MLS element to your website will engage users and make them stay longer. A great tool to have is an MLS with an interactive map that allows people to see listings from a satellite view. A feature like this not only creates engagement but also provides value as people can clearly search for their dream home from the comfort of their home before contact you for a showing.

• Offer a home valuation tool — The best websites offer something useful to users (such as the previous MLS). By adding a home valuation tool to your website, a seller simply needs to input their home address to get an estimate. Offering free services like this builds credibility with you and makes users more likely to use you as their agent. Even if they’re not ready to sell, you’ve captured their email address which allows you to send them market updates in the future. Plus if they’re selling, my guess is they’re looking to buy too. Now that’s a win-win situation!

• Include your social media — You want website visitors to follow you on social media as well. This is where they can get a first hand look at who they will be working with. Most web platforms allow you to include quick links to your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. These are often placed at the bottom or top of the website, and make it easy for people to keep up with you on social. This feature will help grow your social media presence and create a better bond between agent and client.

• Provide client testimonials — There’s no better advertisement than great testimonials. And who better to promote your services than your very own clients? Testimonials elevate your credibility as they give prospects and idea of what to expect when they work with you. You can manually ask clients, send them your personal review link, or reach out to past clients to request for reviews. You can then create a dedicated section on your website where all of your great reviews can be found.

• Use more video — When it comes to real estate, seeing is believing. By having an elegant video of homes you’ve sold can give prospects an idea of the properties you sell. Another advantage of videos on your site? Sellers get to see what you can create with their home when they decide to sell. Great video content is a selling point in itself. You can create a video to highlight featured homes you’re selling or sold, or use it to introduce both yourself and your expertise.

• Create neighborhood profiles — People don’t look to buy in random locations, they have an idea of the neighborhood they want to buy in. Beyond just listing properties on your website, have a section for featured neighborhoods or communities as well. Be sure to give in-depth information about these locations, including the lifestyle, attractions, parks, schools — all the things that will persuade buyers to move there.

• Make it easy to contact you — If your website does its job properly, users will be compelled to get in touch with you. Even if users reach out to you, they want a quick response (aka very impatient). The solution? Utilizing a click-to-call button or click-to-email button on your website. These are typically your CTA’s we mentioned earlier. Another nifty tool is using the chatbot feature which is usually in the bottom right corner of a website. This feature can be connected to your Messenger or your email to chat with clients fast while they’re on your website. By offering these single click contact options for your users makes it that more likely for them to work with you.

There’s no underestimating the role your website plays in your real estate business. We hope that the features and tools above will help you with your website and step up your online presence.

Need to revamp your real estate website? Let us at Oakmont Creative handle the task. In our experience, we’ve worked with agents, agencies, and lenders, helping them create beautiful and effective sites. We would love to be able to work with you too.