In today’s digital world, technology and connectivity reign supreme. This is particularly true in the real estate industry, where it has seen the advancement and evolution of digital technology and client expectations.
According to a report by the National Association of Realtors, around 86% of homebuyers agree that real estate websites are the top sources of information when searching for options in purchasing a home and 44% begin their research by searching online.
It’s not a surprise to find a lot of real estate sites on the web. This opens up the arena for stiff competition in catching the attention of online prospects and increases the demand for websites to rank higher in search engines.
This is where the real value of a real estate website comes in.
Why invest in a real estate website?
Real estate agents need to be aware that in this digital age, an online presence is important.
Having a website that gets more traffic aside from running marketing and advertising campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and other social networking sites complement their agency’s visibility and relevance in the real estate market.
Investing in a highly-performing website is a critical component in ensuring that your real estate business gets the visibility and searchability it needs to stay competitive in the market.
Without careful planning and proven strategies to move your website up the search rankings, you can expect it to rank at the bottom and end up lost in obscurity.
Website ingredient: SEO strategy
A critical element in a good real estate website is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
For the real estate industry, SEO strategies need to focus on the components, peculiarities, needs, and demands of the market.
A key ingredient in an effective SEO strategy for real estate is content. The internet is the most convenient source of information for any business including real estate. The more informational and helpful the content of the site, the more it becomes relevant to readers.
When people need something such as information on “affordable houses” or “homes for sale,” they go to search engines and type in keywords that highlight their search query. Websites containing these keywords then show-up on the search engine results page (SERP).
However, ranking to the top is not easy, since search engines contain algorithms that determine websites with content that are most relevant to the chosen topic.
Optimising real estate websites using SEO strategies can greatly increase the chances of your site ranking and showing up among the top websites for those search terms.
But take note, search engine protocols are not just limited to topic relevance since other key components play a major role in SEO other than having compelling content and keywords.
Here are the major elements that help identify a good real estate website:
Images– Visuals are critical and play a key role in presenting a house or property before a prospective client. Making use of striking, vibrant, and colorful images can help attract more potential buyers to visit or frequent the website, as well as help boost site rankings through SEO.
Images also serve as good starting points to spur the interest of visitors in reading the articles through.
Dynamic keywords and search terms – Staying abreast with the latest keyword and search terms can help immensely in optimising websites for SEO. This means that your website is adaptable to the dynamic keyword variations that are incorporated into the content of the websites. Do take note that what may be trending the previous month could be different for the current month, so it is important to always check online tools for the latest terms that can be used in your website’s content.
Also, keyword stuffing does not work in Google since current search algorithms have been designed to detect it and relegate websites at the bottom or get penalized for attempting to cheat the search rankings.
Backlinking and outbound links – Use of backlinks and outbound links as you do with keywords and search terms are also vital to your website that helps build credibility and authority. It allows visitors to your site to have access to other sources of information or related materials without having to leave your site. This is important when you need to provide more details related to your website’s content, such as other websites that support your claims or supplementary material for your products or article topics.
Incorporating these links in your content will make your readers stay locked into your website, help you get more traffic, and boost the credibility of your website.
Videos – Having videos inside your website content is helpful, especially for discriminating visitors who need more visual content. Ideally, video plug-ins need to be of good visual quality, informative, and entertaining. For real estate websites, videos of 360-degree angles or drone shots of the property can help boost the visual appeal of the property and support SEO strategies.
Internal links – Using internal links that redirect visitors to other pages within the site such as informational or blog articles help provide ease of navigation for site visitors. It helps guide the journey of the visitor within the site and prevent them from leaving it especially when they get interested in your content topics.
These are important elements that will help you gain your competitive edge in the real estate market and boost your website up the search rankings. It will help you generate more traffic, gain new visitors, and engage your target audience. Once you have the right recipes for your website you can be confident of your online presence and open opportunities for your real estate business.
This is what makes real estate websites more valuable than ever.