Does Your Real Estate Website Answer These Questions?

Thank you for the great post Marte and have a wonderful day!

Marte,

I am reading about what makes me different.  Or, what do I do that is compelling enough to urge the reader into action.

Marte, all of these "questions" are a must on real estate websites. But how do agents practically answer these while understanding it's not about the agent's needs but what's in it for the site visitors. The potential home buyers and sellers.

Below are practical tips how agent sites can use your questions to address the wants, needs and motivations of buyers and sellers.

If we operate under the premise that most initial site visitors are buyers and they don't know the agent/agency owner of the website (or even care about them), a buyer's most pressing need is all about searching for a home. That's not based on opinion but mountains of information gathered by NAR.

That means real estate websites must offer a simple property search tool like those found on  Zillow/Trulia/Realtor.com the instant the agent's homepage loads. Why? It's what buyers want. Plus, ZTR has trained buyers what to expect in a property search tool. Does your site offer a simple quick search tool on your homepage?

Because it's ALL about viewing properties, agents should be creative and offer "one click to view" properties by all manner of pre-configured searches. Many of the more popular one click to view searches include:

View Homes by Schools and School Districts
View Homes by Area, Property Type and Price
View Homes with Pools
View Homes in Gated Communities
View Homes near Mass Transit
And the list goes on and on.

To make sure agents are validated as neighborhood experts, it's important to quench buyers hefty thirst for hyperlocal info. Agents must offer instant click through on their homepage for buyers to learn about your neighborhoods, condo developments and larger communities in the market you serve. NAR now states buyers must be sold on the community first and then they will begin looking for active listings in those communities. Real estate websites that fail to inform and empower buyers on community information will fail to connect with buyers and convey trust.

Sellers are motivated to navigate to real estate websites to determine how much their home is worth.

Yes, sellers want to "get to know" listing agents, and they expect to be told what makes that listing agent different. Sellers come to real estate websites asking what creative marketing ideas will the listing agent leverage? How will that agent sell their home for max value in as little time as possible.

Both sellers and buyers desire to learn about the local market conditions. Their first question is "how's the market"? Real estate websites must answer this question with fresh, reliable, recent data and information. It's one more opportunity for the agent to be seen as a trusted adviser and a subject matter expert in their market.

Real estate agent sites must answer these "questions" about the agent, as well as the question, "why should I hire you"?

This question can be answered with "social proof". Agents must properly established their business online with their business listings at Google+, Yelp, City Search and many other business list sites. If you have fostered great reviews, and are leveraging your pristine online reputation not only will it help convince prospects it will impact your local SEO.

I challenge agents to use these practical ways to properly answer your questions in this post and provide the answers on their website. Do that and you will be on your way to transforming visitors to prospects and possibly clients. 

Marte ~ Such good tips, timely for me because I've been working on updating my site. Thanks & congrats on your Inman contribution.

Marte - posting again but this time to congratulation you on your feature!  Woo hoo!

A great, well thought out article, Marte! These are important questions to ask! We are sharing this on our social media pages. Please follow us if you have a moment. We would love your input on our website/CRM solution. Happy Friday! -The PM Team , @PropertyMinder

www.facebook.com/PropertyMinder, https://plus.google.com/+Propertyminder

Good tips Marte! Good writing skills are important to the success of a website or any other marketing piece, especially when complemented by images and video.

The same questions could be asked about profiles and posts here on AR.  Often, I can't tell what state or city the blogger is from. 

Marte I'm so glad Fred re-posted this blog.  You have certainly hit the nail on the head with this one my friend.  Hope you've enjoyed a great weekend in and out of real estate.

I think one of the functions of an effective website is present what you're offering in a way that it's as if your having a conversation with the person reading.