To Build a Successful Real Estate Website: Lets us know 5 Important Features
Are you planning to create a real estate website? Check out its top features in this article, we talk about the basics of creating a real estate website. You’ll learn the top reasons to spend money on a real estate site, the main development methods, and the features each site covers.
Are you planning to create a real estate website? Discover its most important features
In this article, we talk about the essential aspects of building a real estate website that converts. You will learn about the main reasons for spending money on a real estate site, the main methods of development, and the characteristics of each site that deals with real estate.
Physical contact between the real estate agent and their clients remains necessary in most cases. However, most people who sell, buy, rent or lease homes or apartments start their market research with a website that contains real estate listings.
So, if you are a property owner or planning to start a real estate agency, you cannot ignore this fact: a website is not just a good property. It is very necessary.
Why building a real estate website should be at the top of your priority list
There are plenty of motives to spend your hard-earned money creating a real estate website. Here are the most important ones:
This gives your real estate agency more credibility and respect with local home buyers and sellers, making you an expert in the field.
You can create a page where local owners and buyers can exchange information and opinions. You can also put testimonials and reviews on the home page and pictures of any certificates or awards you have. This should build trust with your prospects.
Helps you reach a wider audience around your business
The traditional brick and mortar approach limits agencies in this regard. Advertising in newspapers, magazines, and television can be less effective and more expensive than online marketing (click campaigns, vlogs, blogs, social media, affiliate links, etc.) these days.
This makes it easier for you to achieve higher conversion rates
A good real estate website presents all the information related to the property in an attractive way through high quality images, videos, virtual reality technologies, augmented reality and other modern media. Most of the time, clients don’t even need to contact a real estate agent in person. If you have any questions, you can ask them via live chat. Saves you time and effort by bringing the benefit “on the plate”.
In addition to giving you credibility, bringing in leads almost effortlessly, and advertising your agency to more potential clients, a real estate website helps you stay ahead of other businesses in your niche or less. At least at the same level as them.
Now that you understand the importance of a website for your business, how do you create a website? There are three main ways.
The Three Most Popular Techniques for Developing Real Estate Websites
Building a Real Estate Website Method #1: Custom Development – Breaking Limits, Unleashing Your Creativity
We will start with the most difficult and definitely the best way to create a real estate website. It is particularly suitable for ambitious projects such as those you intend to develop. We are talking about a tailored development approach. It is suggested to hire a real estate website developer or work with a development agency.
Over our long history, we have built many real estate websites from scratch, so we know the business very well. However, we won’t deny it: it’s by far the most expensive method. However, the amount you spend on the design and custom features of your website’s user interface and user experience is well worth it.
When you decide to go the customized route and hire a real estate website development company, here’s what you get:
- You have complete control over everything on your site, from the quality of the images to the number of search filters.
- You will have a unique look that will help you stand out from the crowd
- Do not rely on third party software providers. Whether you want to remove old functionality, add advanced functionality, or change the overall layout and design of your real estate site, you can easily do so without looking over your shoulder.
Building a Real Estate Website Method #2: Middle Ground: Using WordPress
Another popular way to build a real estate website is to use a content management system. Among the many options available in the market, we recommend WordPress. It is easy to install and manage. There are plenty of themes that you can buy or get for free, both official and created by independent vendors.
The same goes for add-ons. With these, your real estate website can have every feature you could want. Search? image compression? return? protection? WordPress has you covered. Insufficient? Take advantage of the platform’s core REST API features to consume an unlimited number of external services, such as Google APIs.
Of course, this requires a high level of experience. If you need it, our WordPress development team is always ready to help. We can consult WP-wise on everything from user interface design and user experience for a real estate website, to database optimization, to custom feature development.
Building a Real Estate Website Method #3: Use a special tool similar to Lego
Finally, if you’re not going to take over the world and just need a website to advertise a property, for example, you can choose a Lego-like tool like Squarespace. Unlike the more complex methods of building a real estate website discussed above, these tools only provide websites with basic functionality and a similar look and feel for everyone.
You don’t have to be a tech genius to make a real estate website like Squarespace and the like. All you have to do is drag and drop the required items onto your favorite sites on the pages. Then you just have to do a few manipulations so that the elements behave as you wish.
However, the downsides of these “one-time sale” tools make them a poor choice for building large, feature-rich real estate websites:
- Adding new features and changing the design of websites built with these tools is difficult, if not impossible in most cases.
- Your website will look like a chicken in a coop full of similar-looking birds, although you can tweak the look a bit to suit your brand.
- You are at the mercy of device limitations. If you need a certain business feature that isn’t in the seller’s listing, you won’t be able to add it.
Therefore, if your real estate agency really wants to beat the competition, we advise you to choose the customized approach. However, whichever one of the three methods you ultimately choose, there are certain components that every real estate transaction site should have. Let’s take a look at these below.
The main operations that real estate website users should be able to perform
#1: Find a property quickly and easily
What’s the point of creating a real estate website that doesn’t provide a way to quickly find a specific property? Instead, customers could only buy a magazine containing classified ads, as in the old days. No, in other words, the real estate agency website should have a clear search function with tuning options or filters.
There are basic criteria that buyers, sellers and other interested parties often choose when searching for a property. This includes details such as floor space, price, location, etc. However, in addition to the basics, customers may have other questions to ask.
For example, they may be concerned about industrial materials in the neighborhood. Then remember to add the corresponding filter option as a checkbox. It may be helpful to do some research on the main weaknesses of real estate in your area.
Another useful feature that you can offer your customers is the ability to save search results that interest them. Since this is an advanced option, consider giving access only to registered users. This way you can attract more potential customers.
#2: Get high-quality, informative descriptions of the property
This point naturally follows the previous point. Once a home buyer, agent, or other real estate site user hits the search button, they expect to see real estate from every possible angle. A simple text description is not enough.
People are visual beings. To redefine the famous proverb, it is better to see it once than to read it a hundred times. Menu properties are unimaginable without high-resolution images.
However, keep in mind that excessive display weight can affect the performance of your website. So make sure your images are optimized for use on the web. If you choose WordPress to create a real estate website, you can use one of the many plugins for this.
This will compress your images without affecting their quality. Also, your images should look great no matter what device your website is on. If you are having trouble choosing the right solution or technology for creating and compressing your images for mobile devices, contact our WordPress development experts for a consultation.
Besides text descriptions and high-quality images, you can add other features to your list:
A Map: This will help users to know where the property actually is, as well as to assess the surrounding area and amenities. How do you include maps in your ad? Use the Google Maps API. If you find this task overwhelming, consider hiring the WordPress real estate website development team to help you out.
Video: These are more useful than pictures. They create a feeling of being in the right place. If you can, use the chopper to record videos that give users a bird’s eye view of the property.
AV/VR technology: Let homebuyers feel like they already own the property. The younger generation finds this innovative feature particularly exciting.
#3: Quickly learn about property appraisal
No matter how attractive a property is to buyers, most of them will likely walk away if they can’t afford it. On the other hand, when they see that the price is right for them, they can expect a higher conversion rate.
This is why it is a good idea to incorporate a property value calculator when creating a real estate website. There are many types of calculators. One, for example, lets users know if buying a home is more or less expensive than renting it for a certain number of years.
#4: Find out what other people are saying about your real estate business
Real estate business is a business of trust. What is the best way to set this up with your potential customers? Tell them what your customers say about your services. Therefore, when creating a real estate site, a special section for certificates should be provided.
It can be dynamic rather than static, and it’s usually dynamic, so you can include as many revisions as possible. If possible, include a photo of the buyer or seller of the home in question who left a review.
If you have awards, certificates, or other documents that prove your skills and experience, also consider adding your logo or photo.
#5: You have something to do
By “do something” we mean a call-to-action button. After a lot of research done by your clients on the website of the property, they should be able to contact you or an agent. Therefore, put the CTA button not only in the title but also in the description of each property. This increases your chances of getting more potential clients.
Think of the appropriate words to put on the button, such as “Contact us”, “Let’s make a deal”, etc. Choose a color that contrasts with the rest of the page or section. Also provide your contact details on each page next to the property description, not just in the footer and title.
Conclusion
Creating a real estate website is a success for any agency. It acts as a powerful marketing outlet that generates new leads, converts them into clients, and brings trust and credibility to the real estate business.
You can use DIY or CMS tools to create a simple real estate website. However, if you are thinking big and want to get real value out of your site, then choose the custom development route. You will have one resource, tailored to your exact business needs, that you can control from the ground up.
Every real estate website should make it quick and easy for homebuyers and others involved in the “games” to find a property and receive detailed listings with high-resolution photos, videos and high-quality maps. They must be able to quickly assess their preferred property, know what other clients think of the business, and communicate easily with the agent.
In other words, the first thing you need to do is create a real estate website with your expectations in mind. They should walk towards a bargain without much effort.
Whether you are looking to create a stylish real estate website or use WordPress or another CMS, the experienced developers at Softkingo are always happy to provide you with their unparalleled expertise. With a large number of successfully completed real estate website development projects, we guarantee the best quality and smooth operation of your website.
Take your business to the next level with our help. Let’s discuss your ideas today!
Paramhans Singh is the Director of Operations at Softkingo Technologies, bringing over 8 years of experience in delivering custom software solutions that help startups and enterprises achieve their business goals. He has successfully validated more than 220 app and website ideas and delivered over 100 tailored solutions, utilizing a range of technologies such as Swift, Kotlin, React Native, Flutter, PHP, RoR, IoT, AI, NFC, AR/VR, Blockchain, and NFTs.