Marketing /
12 Min read
5 Insanely Successful Real Estate Website Marketing Ideas
February 4, 2021
Bhavyadeep Sinh Rathod
Content Editor, WotNot
Extra-ordinary. That’s what your real estate website needs to be.
Because having a website for your real estate business is more than just a medium of an online presence.
According to the National Association of Realtors, 52% of homebuyers in the USA purchased real estate through the internet in 2019. This figure puts enough emphasis on the fact that your website is literally your window of opportunity to increase qualified leads and enhance your property sales prospects.
So when there are hundreds of real estate developer websites catering to your customer demographics, what do you do to stand out? To get website visitors and engage them online? To ensure that your website is not just another real estate site on the internet but a marketing tool to attract leads?
Whatever website you build, it has to be exceptional because your visitor takes mere 0.5 seconds to form your site’s opinion. Yes, you read right, 0.5 seconds. A tiny window to make the best first impression. So to turn that 0.5 seconds to minutes or even hours, I have listed five ideas for your real estate website marketing that will definitely work in your favor.
Check out some top real estate marketing ideas that you can adopt for your website!
Whether you’re an experienced realtor or just starting out, it’s essential you tick these must-haves real estate website ideas.
Website Design and Layout
Imagine the first reaction a prospective buyer would have when visiting a physical store. He can be either flabbergasted with the layout, decor, and ambiance of the store or be indifferent and forget about it as soon as he leaves.
Your visitor has a similar experience with your website. Statistics prove that 94% of first impressions relate to the site’s web design. Hence, your design itself can be a differentiating factor and do wonders for your website marketing.
Luckily, you don’t have to invest big bucks to make your website aesthetically appealing. Some of the techniques you can use are:
Include a stunning background of your properties:
Nothing works on a real estate website like your property pictures. Airbnb doubled their revenue in their initial days after getting professional photographers onboard to click beautiful images of the properties. The way hosts presented their properties made a massive difference in their sales!
So presentations play a significant role. People like attractive images. Show it to them! Check out this beautiful background of a real estate website:
Example of real estate website background
Source: Srijan Realty
Add Informative videos:
Videos are needed for a wholesome website experience. It is an effective way to pitch quality content quickly. They can also be used to validate your properties so far.
Example of video on real estate website
Source: Purti Reality
Keep Navigation easy:
It may seem like a trivial point, but if your visitor is confused and unable to search what he’s looking for, he will leave within seconds. Have a clear-cut navigation bar on the home page. Add CTA when needed and keep scrolling & searching convenient for visitors.
Example of easy navigation on real estate website
Source: Placester.com
Add automated conversational tools like chatbots:
While designing a website, your chatbot must be included so that you can talk to every single visitor. Unlike other real estate software, chatbots are relatively easy to build and are many times code-free. They can initiate conversations and increase your site visits. It is how the real estate industry is generating high-volume leads online!
Example of chatbots on real estate website
Source: Kathryn Harbour
While you do all of this, you also need to follow the essential to-dos that you need to include, like the necessary information of your property, why your visitors should choose you, your social validation, and so on. Towards the end of the website experience, your visitor should be more curious instead of being content. To check out some amazing real estate website ideas for designs, click here!
Real Estate Chatbots
Let me take you back to the example; when a prospective customer visits a physical store, he is immediately welcomed by the sales representative, who then asks what the customer wants, what they prefer, and guides them in their buying process. Having a chatbot is one of the best real estate marketing ideas that you can use to enhance your website lead generation!
Think of real estate chatbots like the sales representative on your website. I have already mentioned before the need for having chatbots on your website. It’s because it’s too good a tool to ignore in real-estate marketing. Chatbots are the perfect example of utilizing AI in real estate to the fullest.
They are conversational tools that can interact with visitors on your real estate website and perform multiple functions like:
Turn your leads into qualified leads:
Chatbots don’t just generate leads; they qualify them by getting their valid name, number, and email address. I write “valid” because chatbots recognize fake information and reduce the marketing team’s burden in pitching false leads.
Example of how chatbots can generate real estate leads
Source: Prajapati Group
Showcase your properties:
Your bots can provide information about the property your visitor wants to see and allows you to dictate the conversation flow further.
Example of how chatbots show real estate properties
Source: Zaveri Realty
Provide them with the necessary information:
If your visitor is active on the bot and seeking detailed information, your bot can provide that as well —for example, the details of your floor plans, amenities, construction status, and surrounding locations.
Chatbot providing property information
Source: Purti Realty
Schedule site visits:
Your bot on the website can also schedule visits, as you can see in the above image.
Real estate chatbots change your sales game as it is predicted that by 2021, 85% of customer interaction will be handled without human agents. They take customer engagement to new heights, and the best part is they are extremely cost-effective and provide a personalized experience to every visitor on the site.
Hygiene SEO Activities for your Real Estate Website
Each word on your website needs to be part of a larger content strategy that aims to rank your website higher on search engines. Even if you do everything else right, you won’t find visitors if they don’t find you.
According to the Search Engine Journal, 49% of marketers agreed that organic search has the best ROI than any other digital marketing method.
You need to conduct regular SEO hygiene checks to be visible on the Internet and generate organic traffic. Some methods you can use are:
Install SEO plug-ins for your real estate website that can develop site maps and optimize meta tags. Also, install tools like Google Analytics that allow you to understand where your traffic is coming from (organic search, paid search, social media, backlinks, etc.). This can help you monitor your website performance and review your marketing activities for your website.
Evaluate and re-evaluate your keywords strategy to keep your content relevant to current SEO analytics and trends. Search for the right keywords using Google’s keyword planner tool or Ubersugest and develop your content around those keywords.
Example of SEO keywords for real estate
Source: wpestate.org
Optimize your on-page content with compelling H1, H2, CTA, and meta descriptions, provide internal and external links to high-quality webpages, and give alt text to your images to rank them higher on SEO.
Integrating a real estate chatbot is also an effective way to enhance your SEO. Think about it. Chatbots increase the time spent by your visitors on your page by interacting with them and keeping them engaged. This reduces the overall bounce rate of your page.
Build Trust with Content
When a customer is making a big decision, such as buying a property, they need to trust the seller. To build this trust online, you need to connect. Using high quality, powerful content. The best ways you can do this are:
Blogs:
Long-form content like blogs on your page not only helps in SEO but also with giving valuable information to your prospective customers on the nitty-gritty details of your property. With blogs, you can connect on a very humane level. Talk about your happy residents, talk about their experience of buying a home from you; tell a story; the topics are endless.
Real estate blogs on a website
Source: Trulia
Chatbots:
Sometimes, visitors prefer quick conversations about your property compared to long content on the website. This is where your chatbots come into the picture. Although they have AI roots, chatbots can be made quite humane in their conversations. And when visitors receive personalized content on your site, they are more likely to turn into prospective customers.
Case studies:
Nothing gives your company social validation and credibility like a case study. With case studies on your websites, your visitors know that you’re not just all talk. You can also write studies around your CSR activities and sustainable living practices in your properties, which can create a lasting impression.
Gated and ungated content:
Have a perfect balance between gated and ungated content. Define your real estate website’s purpose and decide based on that. Is it to increase your property sales? Or to raise your brand awareness? Both types of content have their pros and cons.
A/B testing
There is a famous saying that never put all your eggs in one basket. Similarly, you don’t rely on a single variant of your webpage. In website marketing, you need to have two variants of each component on each page of your website to understand which one performs better. Some of the parameters you can include in A/B testing are tweaking fonts, navigation, forms, call to action, and website design.
Check the reasons A/B testing is beneficial.
Reduce bounce rates:
You don’t want all your website marketing efforts to go in vain. Through A/B testing, you can develop content with winning combinations that bring the highest traffic to your website.
Get more conversion:
Similarly, when you have the right combination of elements and know which segment works the best, you understand where you need to focus your further efforts. This is bound to get you more conversions on your website.
Generate Higher ROI with minimal changes:
The best part about A/B testing is that you don’t need to create massive changes. The changes are kept minimum to suit the current content and display, which can generate better results.
For example, in the ad below, the only difference is the picture; the content is the same. With A/B testing, you’ll know which imagery worked better and what the audience enjoys looking at. Obviously, with better results, you can expect a higher ROI.
A/B Testing example
Source: Revinate
Content Engagement:
The whole point of A/B testing is to provide you with a choice- A choice to create different sets of content and choose the one with a higher engagement from the visitor. In other words, it keeps the content that the visitor wants to read.
A/B Testing Example
Source: Extole
For example, in the above image, Airbnb has just changed the content. With A/B testing, you can identify which content resonates with the reader. Companies can thus understand customer sentiment and determine what works for them.
So, there you have it! I promised you five real estate marketing ideas, but they’re easier said than done, right? I agree, implementing them needs time and individual expertise. It also requires dedication from your marketing team and leadership alike.
But working in the real estate industry has indeed instilled some patience in you, hasn’t it? So that’s my suggestion. Be patient, invest time.
Think of building a website like building a new construction project. You get a qualified team on board, you motivate them, collaborate with different departments, and work together towards creating a beautiful entity. Both times, you should believe that the results are going to be worth it.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Bhavyadeep Sinh Rathod
Content Editor, WotNot
He likes technology, chatbots, comedy, philosophy, and sports. He often cracks hilarious jokes and lightens everyone's mood in the team.