The real estate related web searches have increased by 253% in the past four years and today, 95% of the total online home search is performed on a real estate portal or website. These two stats are enough to throw light on the inexorableness of having a website for the real estate agents.
And when it comes to real estate website, the web design holds high significance; one, because it serves a very distinct purpose and two, because the expectations of its visitors are very different from those frequenting product-dealing websites. A real estate website entertains users with a completely different set of goals pertaining to real estate matters. Hence, the real estate agents needs to be extra cautious that their website perfectly caters the needs of their audience and simultaneously converts them into potential clients. The web design tips listed below would help the real estate agents in engaging their target audience and offering more value to them. So, let’s scroll down to read the 5 web design tips for the real estate agents.
Create A Converting Landing Page
Landing pages on a real estate agent’s website play a crucial role in converting the passive browsers into potential clients. Don’t leave your visitors in a dark abyss to find their way through the website. Instead, once they’ve clicked on your site link, guide them to the exact landing page where they would find value proposition for investing their time. While designing a real estate website landing page, there are certain elements that should never be missed out to guarantee higher conversions from your website. They are:
· Catchy Headline
· Clear & Powerful Call-To-Action
· Real Listings’ Pictures
· Value Proposition
· Social Proofs
Include Client Testimonials & Social Proofs
Property buying is one of the biggest investments that your potential client is making and he/she would certainly want an agent whom they can trust. Collecting testimonials from the previous clients and even adding social proofs on the website can build that trust and also reflect your past deals and experience and as a real estate agent. The testimonials from real clients can be highlighted on the website along with the images of their property, real numbers, and real data. A ruling trend is to add video testimonials and as real estate agent, incorporating this video testimonial trend in your web design to show off your dealings. Use the following ways to show social proof and client testimonials in your web design:
· Rotating carousals
· Slider text with images
· Videos on landing pages
· Dedicated client testimonials page
· Embedded social media posts
Add A Short & Simple Contact Form
A real estate agent would never want to miss out any chance of getting details about potential clients. A contact form is the best way to get this information. A short and simple contact form asking just the basic details like name, email id, number, and occasionally a message would attract more submissions. Design the contact form in a way that the real estate buyers and sellers feel compelled to submit their inquiries. Give your visitors a reason to contact you. Keep it short with the minimum number of fields, but don’t forget to make it engaging. Here are some ways to make your contact form engaging:
· Powerful title
· Short description
· Authentic images
· Bold and clear Call-To-Action
· Bold colors and typography
Use Authentic High Res Images
Instead of getting tempted by the cheap and easily accessible stock images, it is always wise to use authentic images in the website design, more so when you are a real estate agent. With 83% home buyers desiring to see high-resolution pictures of property online, the images on your website should become a cornerstone of your real estate branding. Authentic photographs and images on your real estate website would always add credibility to your visual-branding standards. An important thing to keep in mind is to always include high-resolution images. Include the images of your actual market you are serving and the houses you’ve sold. Getting authentic pictures is very easy. Here’s how you can do it:
· Use your smartphone camera and become your own photographer
· Hire professional photographer to click pictures of your clients and listings
· Ask clients to share their candid pictures in the house
· Get a professional camera to shoot pictures and use photo editing tools for perfect pictures
Make Navigation Simple & Intuitive
The KISS concept perfectly synopsizes the web design that a real estate website should have. A real estate web design should be as simple and intuitive for the users as possible. As soon as the visitor enters your website, he/she should immediately be able to comprehend who you are, what you do and what your niche property dealing is. Moreover, the site navigation should be intuitive so that the visitors can quickly and easily get what they’ve been looking for. Work on the sitemap of your website to carefully create sections, sub-sections, pages etc., on the site and make them interconnected in a way that any page can be accessed from anywhere within three clicks. Here are some tips to make your site intuitive:
· Use conventional titles for each page that real estate buyers and sellers can understand
· Have well-ordered buttons in the navigation bar
· Use fixed or sticky menu bars for efficient navigation
· Clear and popping out Call-To-Action buttons
· Logo pointing back to the homepage
Wrapping Up
First of all, let’s recapitulate the five web design tips discussed above that are ideal for the real estate agents:
· Create A Converting Landing Page
· Include Client Testimonials & Social Proofs
· Add A Short & Simple Contact Form
· Use Authentic High Res Images
· Make Navigation Simple & Intuitive
By using these simple web design tips in your real estate website, you’ll be able to seize the interest of your target audience, be it property buyers, sellers or tenants. Either you can incorporate these tips all at once on your website or go with the hit and trial method. With every tip that you try don’t forget to perform A/B Testing of the website. This will help you analyze what’s driving more traffic to your website and what’s not creating any difference.
