Your website has the power to make or break your business. In the real estate industry, it’s not only a place where buyers and sellers form a first impression of your brand and learn about your offerings, it’s also where agents serve their clients.
An intuitive, user-friendly website that strategically pairs data with technology can allow agents to better serve their customers with improved insights, real-time data and seamless communication. Below, I share five must-haves for a brokerage website.
Search alerts
As agents, notifying our customers of new listings as soon as they become available is an essential feature in today’s fast-moving market. Search alerts on our site, The Agency, allow agents to set up a unique listing search based on their clients desired criteria. These alerts can include neighborhood, price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, keywords, amenities and more.
As soon as a new property that qualifies for the search criteria is live, agents will receive automatic alerts that allow them to vet the property immediately and send to their customers in real-time. Such a feature is important in keeping agents top-of-mind among clients and in showing them how reactive they can be to the market conditions.
Connect through IDX or VOW search ability
With a wealth of information available in our customers’ hands at all times of day, having a website search portal that connects directly to the MLS and shows every available listing is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s a necessity.
Customers are used to search portals that show them every available home on the market. As a brokerage, we have to meet our customers at their level of expectation. That means, connecting our website through IDX (Internet Data Exchange) or VOW (Virtual Office Website) and showing every listing, including sales history, days on market and other pertinent information, so clients can make informed decisions.
Include clear calls to action (CTA)
While it might sound like website 101, many websites fail to accurately and clearly lay out their Calls to Action (CTA). A CTA is a button, link, or form on a webpage that asks web visitors to take action.
Whether it’s to search homes, input email addresses, learn more or get in touch, including a CTA on your website is an excellent way to capture leads, learn about your audience and improve one’s website experience.
Your website should grow your business, and including clear CTAs on every page is a guaranteed way to increase conversion rates and collect data. Give customers a reason to input their contact information and leverage that to build your database.
Use consistent, professional imagery
Your website is a reflection of your brand and the type of homes that you sell. Although it may sound like a no-brainer, the images on your site — agent headshots, lifestyle photos and even your featured listings — should all be consistent and in-line with your brand.
So many brokerages use headshots that look like they were taken with a cell phone camera and stock photos on their listing images. Customers can tell the difference! Avoid having your business look low-quality and unprofessional and always leverage professional photos that elevate the brand.
Capture seller leads
Historically, most brokerage websites have focused on buyers, leaving the entire target segment of sellers ignored. When designing your website, make sure you cater to buyers and sellers. After all, it takes two parties to make a deal happen.
Carefully craft a value proposition for sellers — whether that’s a partnership with an ibuyer, bespoke marketing capabilities, a global network of connections or something else entirely —and leverage your website to clearly communicate, capture and nurture those leads.
There’s no debating that your website is integral to the success of your business. When it comes to your brokerage website, set yourself up for success by using the latest technology and employing consistent branding and clear messaging.
And it is important to adapt your website as your business grows. Recently, The Agency completely relaunched its website to offer enhanced functionality making it easier to search and share listings and for agents to receive client insights.
At the end of the day, the websites that create a seamless and intuitive user experience are those that will excel ahead of their competition.
Philip Lang is co-founder and chief business officer at The Agency. He served as COO of Triplement, the New York City-based brokerage which recently merged with The Agency.
