How to Create a Real Estate Website That Will Convert Leads

Feb 1, 2024

Each year, the folks at realtrends.com release their annual real estate website rankings. Those rankings, regardless of the company compiling them, are always a fun read.

Realtrend’s criteria for getting a spot on their list include websites with the “best design.” In fact, they’re looking for “show-stopping websites.”

These are not always the best-designed websites to increase organic SEO or capture leads.

Nope.

It’s not just the prettiness factor that proves a real estate website “… has what it takes.” We beg to differ. The “best” real estate websites actually work for their agent-owners.

They do this by ranking in organic searches, helping to convert leads, educating visitors about the buying and selling process, and informing them about the area and its attractions.

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And they do it while not annoying the visitor, making them search for the information they need, by loading at lightning-fast speeds and more.

There’s an old Duke Ellington-composed song that says it all: “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”

The best real estate websites are not only pretty, but they’ve also “got that swing”

A real estate website that has “that swing”:

Features responsive design (don’t yawn–we’ll explain, in plain English)
Is attractive in its simplicity
Converts visitors, or leads, into prospects
Attracts organic search engine traffic
Is user-focused

Let’s take a look at each aspect in more detail. Then, use this information when having your real estate website built.

Responsive design

This is one of those phrases that makes eyes glaze over.

What it refers to is a website that adapts its “… content based on the browser space available. This allows consistency between what a site shows on a desktop and what it shows on a handheld device,” according to Mads Soegaard at interaction-design.org.

Why is this important? Responsive websites load quicker on mobile devices. And, since 76% of homebuyers use a mobile device when searching for homes and agents, responsiveness is critical.

Attractive in its simplicity

Think “clean” when it comes to a real estate agent’s website layout. Don’t let anything detract from your branding, from your CTAs, and from the user’s experience (fluff won’t be read anyway).

Leave a lot of white space, use short sentences and paragraphs, and take advantage of bulleted and numbered lists.

“… make your website — especially your homepage — simple and clean with easy-to-navigate buttons and tabs,” suggests the pros at quicksprout.com.

Simplicity is key, they say because sites “… with simple designs have higher conversion rates.”

Check back soon for part 2 where we’ll show you how to build a website that attracts organic search engine traffic, ensures higher conversion rates, and the extra “goodies” it should offer real estate agents.

When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazin

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct, response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Planner

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here

3. The Free Online Real Estate Business Plan

The Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your financial goals. – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Become-A-Listing-Legend-3D-Book-White-274x300.jpg

Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here

Two Simple Productivity Hacks Every Real Estate Agent Needs

Jan 29, 2024

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to be more productive this spring, look at two tips we’ve rounded up from productivity experts. We think they’re a good place to start.

1. Quit focusing on the wrong stuff

Which tasks that you perform in your workday produce the best results? Make a list. Those tasks should be your focus and the rest should either be discarded or handed off to someone else.

They simply aren’t worth your time and performing them makes you less productive.

If you need help figuring out what to keep and what goes, “Consider tracking everything you do, the time it takes to complete each task, and the results,” suggests CamMi Pham, at medium.com.

“Then go back, assess your list to see what did (or didn’t) prove fruitful, and consider your findings to optimize for future tasks.”

2. Eliminate distractions

Many of us suffer from distraction-itis. For me, it’s the cute little miniature pinscher that sits on her own chair next to my desk. What a time stealer!

For many, it’s the phone. The average mobile phone user picks up his/her phone 1,500 times per week, which works out to an estimated 3 hours and 16 minutes daily. (crossrivertherapy.com)

When eliminating distractions, which is critical to becoming more productive, it isn’t enough to just put the phone in another room. It will still ring when you get a call and chime to notify you of texts and voicemail.

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Turn it off. The same goes for email on your laptop or desktop. Create a dedicated time to check the phone for messages, to check your email, and to attend to whatever else commonly distracts you during the workday.

Why?

“There is clearly a direct connection between the various distractions at work and productivity,” according to Juliet Dreamhunter, a certified goal success coach.

And the reason we’re so easily distracted? Apparently, our attention span is 8.25 seconds. That’s less than a goldfish’s at 9 seconds, according to Steven Zauderer, CEO of CrossRiverTherapy.

If it’s an irresistible pup, your kids, or coworkers, use those 8.25 seconds wisely and figure out how to minimize distractions and work at your full capacity.

May this be the year your productivity soars!

This Week’s $125 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card Winner is Jan Brewer!

Jan 26, 2024

Jan recently ordered Homes & Life Magazine (shown above). To learn more, Click Here.

Congratulations, Jan Brewer, on winning this week’s contest!

Jan had the following words to say about her success sending marketing out from ProspectsPLUS!,

“I’ve used ProspectsPLUS! in the past for postcards but just started using the Direct Response flyers and Homes & Life Magazine and the quality and being able to order 25 rather than a mass amount is a very big PLUS”

– Jan Brewer

Jan, thank you for your review. We truly appreciate you and your support!

Don’t Forget to Enter For Your Chance to Win a $75 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card! (see how below)*

HOW TO ENTER: Just leave feedback regarding how using marketing from ProspectsPLUS! has impacted your business, and you’re automatically entered into our next contest.

Leave feedback on Google HERE.

Leave feedback on Facebook, HERE.

*If you’ve already entered our drawing in the past and haven’t won, you don’t need to enter again. Your entry remains valid, and you still have a chance to win.

Don’t forget to watch for next Friday’s email announcing the weekly winner!

PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 6-Month Strategic Marketing Planner

3. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Google is Adding AI to its Search Tool. Is Your Real Estate Website Ready?

Jan 24, 2024

If it feels like the whole Artificial Intelligence (AI) thing is taking off without you, you’re not alone.

“Nobody is asking whether AI is moving fast enough, and …, it’s certainly not behind the times,” suggests Jon Arnold, Principal of J Arnold & Associates.

He goes on to say “If anything, the times are now trying to catch up with AI, as its recent evolution has happened faster than our ability to adapt.” (emphasis is mine)

But adapt, we must, especially if we hope to attract clients via our websites.

Google Search is incorporating AI Generative Search.

Let’s look at the Google Search changes and how real estate agents can adapt.

AI Generative Search

Google’s new search not only looks different but it will act differently as well.

The folks at Google say that the new search “… uses generative AI to give you more information and context to your searches.”

What is Generative AI? “Generative AI focuses on creating new and original content, chat responses, designs, synthetic data or even deepfakes,” according to George Lawton, a London journalist who has studied the topic.

For the general public, Generative AI search differs from a normal Google search in that it won’t give the user a list of links.

Instead, Search Generative Experience (or SGE, Google’s name for the service) “… uses AI to answer your questions right on the Google Search webpage,” says Imad Kahn at cnet.com.

“After entering a query in Google Search, a green or blue box will expand with a novel answer generated by Google’s large language model, like the one powering OpenAI’s ChatGPT,” he concludes.

The Local Market Stats Series is shown above. To learn more, Click Here.

What Does the Average Real Estate Agent Need to Know?

One of the biggest impacts that SGE will have on agents is in regard to SEO for their websites.

While still in development, early users of Google’s SGE claim that it may obliterate SEO efforts by reducing “… visibility for organic search results.” (yoast.com)

How? By placing the “…. AI-generated overviews at the top of search results, users may find the need to click significantly reduced..”

Agents who depend on their websites to generate a significant number of leads will need to make appearing in the “…AI-generated snapshot” their priority.

Parthi Loganathan, CEO of Letterdrop and formerly with Google Search’s product management team suggests that we “… focus on providing new and valuable information, improve readability, and encourage others to cover your product.”

He goes on to claim that “Opinionated content with a clear perspective is becoming more important as AI-generated answers answer simple questions with factual answers.”

Again, SGE is still in development but it’s only a matter of time until it becomes the norm when using Google’s search engine.

Do the research to understand exactly how your content can be included in that soon-to-be coveted AI-generated snapshot box at the top of the search results.

We’ll keep you posted as to SGE’s progress.

When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazin