If you’re using a traditional website hosting service, you may be suffering from a bad case of the real estate blues. These two things often go hand in hand – especially as unreliable website providers are finally pushing real estate agents to look for a more consistent alternative.
Real estate agents are busy people, with all our meetings, viewings, paperwork and marketing rolled into a single day. This means that often we don’t get a lot of time for jobs such as maintaining a website – it’s something we just kind of expect to happen. In this era where websites are coming out of our ears, why stick with an unreliable website provider?
We’ll look at the issues with traditional website providers, and how using a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, can generate those well-deserved leads.
Traditional Website Providers Vs. WordPress
Back in the day (let’s call it 2009), website providers ruled the internet roost. If you wanted the flashiest site with all the gizmos and gadgets to make it look professional, you had to fork out a sizeable wedge of cash.
Traditional sites require an in-depth knowledge in order to create and maintain – something which most real estate agents just don’t have. If only someone could come up with a simple, time-saving and cost-effective solution to this dilemma? Oh wait, they already have.
Within the last few years, content management systems (CMS) have become commonplace on the world-wide web. CMS programs are generally used to bring together collaborative efforts – providing a user-friendly way of creating and managing web content.
The most popular CMS is called WordPress – which is used by around 60 million websites. So, why is your unreliable website provider hurting your leads and, more importantly, how does WordPress solve your problem?
1) Code is coming out of your ears
Unless you took a class in coding or studied for a computer science degree, it’s unlikely that you’ll have the technical knowledge to code a website. Traditional web providers assume that you have the knowledge, but if not, it can be costly. Hiring a web master or paying your computer buddy is all well and good, but it’ll eat into your profits.
Cue WordPress. The nifty content management system eliminates the need to understand HTML, Java and all that technical jargon. Instead, the easy user interface allows you to bash away at the keyboard – creating engaging content for your target audience in minutes.
Tricky formatting tasks of the past are also eradicated, as WordPress lets you arrange text, images and videos on the page with ease.
2) Expert help doesn’t come cheap
A lack of technical maintenance know-how results in having to call up your expensive web designer, before asking him or her to change this or add that. It’ll then take them a while before it can be changed and uploaded to your site’s web server. This is inconvenient in real estate terms, as we like to keep our customers up to date with listings – trying to generate leads over the competition.
WordPress enables the end user to instantly upload content to their website. This means you don’t have to phone up your expensive web master and painstakingly explain what’s going on. WordPress is your virtual web master – reducing overheads and saving your agency time on generating leads.
3) You lose out on quick wins
So, you’ve paid the website provider and your web designer for their time and expertise, but the changes took an hour or two to implement. During this time, your competitor (who uses WordPress) has nabbed one of your potential leads. As they say in business, “time is money” – and the time you spent faffing about with a traditional website provider has led to the loss of a potential sale.
4) Plugins and themes are far from easy
Plugins and themes give you an unparalleled level of flexibility and customisation in web design. Analytics plugins are particularly relevant for real estate agents, as these allow you to see which content is most effective, and which areas of your website attract the most traffic.
This can be a considerable headache for estate agents who use a traditional website, as plugins can be tricky to install, and even harder to maintain. With continuing updates to web code, plugins and browsers, the need for content management is paramount.
WordPress offers a solution to the nightmare of plugin management, by essentially administrating the task for you. It’s seamless, and will save you countless hours that could be spent showing clients around potential properties, closing deals, or driving new buyer leads into the top of your sales funnel.
5) Designing your own theme is a risky road
Designing a site layout from scratch is all good and well – if you’ve got the time and money to throw at it. On top of this, you’re never really going to be 100% sure it’s bug-free until it launches. If a bug does crop up, you’re not necessarily going to hear about it quickly, either. Whether it’s poor mobile rendering or a ‘contact us’ button that just doesn’t work, you’re going to lose out on leads.
6) Security can’t be guaranteed
A major flaw of having a traditional website provider is there’s no guarantee of security. Cybersecurity is a major issue – especially as more people are becoming technology focussed.
Different web hosting services will have varying levels of security, but you can bet your bottom dollar that you’ll pay a huge sum for top-notch security guarantees.
WordPress has its own dedicated team for security – overseeing all sites that use WordPress. A variety of security plugins can turn your website into a virtual Fort Knox – keeping client data safe and secure at all times.
It’s also worth mentioning that Google penalises a lack of security – meaning your site will rank lower on search results. Lower ranking means lower traffic, which in turn means lower leads. Why take the chance?
7) SEO is a breeze with WordPress
WordPress is a beast when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO). If you’re not sure what SEO is, it’s pretty simple – it all comes down to where you appear in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
WordPress makes it supremely simple to edit meta data and general on-page content. So, although Google doesn’t pick favourites with web providers, a recent change to its algorithm means that websites with new and fresh content will shoot to the top of search engine results.
This positions WordPress perfectly for blowing away those traditional website providers, as it takes far less time to generate and upload content through WordPress.
Choose WordPress for a Quick, Simple, and Professional Real Estate Web Solution
The traditional website provider has been calling the shots since the internet went commercial. That means that they’ve had control over how much you pay, and how much time it takes to implement content online.
Website hosting services offer little in the way of security, and rely heavily on expert knowledge to create and maintain their many facets.
In real estate terms, this means that you might miss out on leads and in a competitive market, that’s not something you can afford.
WordPress could be the CMS solution to your traditional website. It’s all the following and more:
- Free and open-source
- Simple and easy to use interface
- Offers flexibility and freedom through plugins
- Is secure and monitored by a dedicated security team
- Search engine optimized
If you’d like to learn more about how a WordPress site can help your real estate business, get in touch with our expert team at iDashboard today.