“Do you have a website I can check out?”
“Can you send me a link to your website?”
“Where’s your website?”
These are probably some of the most common questions you have been getting every time you share your real estate services online and in person.
That makes sense. A website is a great way to get a sense of who you are to your prospective clients.
Now, the problem here is:
HOW DO YOU CREATE A REAL ESTATE WEBSITE!
Websites look like they have a lot of coding involved.
And that’s just something you neither have the time nor mental space to learn about.
Good news! You don’t need to have experience with coding, or previous experience creating websites, for that matter.
Thanks to the advancement of technology, and well, everything else, you can now create a personalized website without the headache, a degree in coding, and hefty charges.
Today, we’ll teach you how to create your own real estate website. Along with that, we’ll be giving some reasons why a website is worth the trouble.
If that is something you want to learn more about, then keep on reading!
Steps to Creating Your Real Estate Website on WordPress
As WordPress is one of the easiest CMS to use, we’ll focus our attention here.
Okay, let’s get straight to the steps.
Step 1: Get Your Domain Ready
Your domain name is your online address. You will use this to get people to visit your website. It seems like the obvious thing to do, hardly anyone thinks about their domain name, but as a realtor, it’s something that you need to take time considering.
Your domain name should be simple, easily read, and memorable. It should also encapsulate what your services are or what your business is all about.
For example:
www.realestateinnewyork.com or www.valuehomesnewjersey.com
Step 2: Choose a Web Hosting Plan
Now that you have your domain name, it’s time to choose a web hosting plan. Web hosting is the “home” of your website. It offers the facilities or services required to maintain your website and make them searchable/available on the World Wide Web.
Some examples of web hosting sites are BlueHost and Hostinger. Of course, you can look up other options that can cater to your needs.
Step 3: Choose a Software to Create Your Website On
Next, you have to choose where you will build your website. There are many options, but for the sake of convenience, we’ll be going with WordPress.
So, go to the WordPress site, and follow their instructions on how to install it on your PC.
They come with a lot of themes that you can choose from. Plus, they are very beginner-friendly.
You also will not need any coding experience, and most hosting platforms will allow you to install WordPress through an “auto-installer”.
Step 4: Make it Look Good and Mobile-Friendly
Because WordPress is beginner-friendly, you’ll mostly just have to choose a theme, edit the colors to match your brand, and drop photos of your listing.
But be sure that you are designing your website to match your brand. Consistency of the colors, fonts, font sizes, and font pairings are crucial to keeping your viewers’ eyes interested in your site.
There is more to making a website look good than you think. So we split this portion into 3 smaller sections so it’s easier to digest.
The Look and Vibe. You need to make sure that you are using high-quality photos of your listings. If you can, try to stage photoshoots with the help of a professional real estate photographer to capture the appeal of the properties you are selling.
Your photos need to look like what your ideal clients are looking for. For example, if you are trying to get the attention of newlyweds, you might want to shoot a listing in a way that shows a happy forever home or highlight how the neighborhood is perfect for starting families and raising children.
Making it Mobile-Friendly. WordPress has a “mobile-view”. This means that your clients will be able to view and explore your website on their mobile devices.
So make sure that all your elements, such as photos, logos, and texts don’t get cut off when your clients are viewing across devices.
You can test this out by previewing your website.
Make Listings Easy to Find. Now that everything looks good, you have to make sure that you are listing your properties in a way that is similar to how your ideal clients look up their desired properties online. Be as detailed as you can.
For example:
“2 bedroom bungalow in downtown, NY” or “2 story house in Madison County”
Step 5: Add Your Content and Services
This is where you talk about yourself, how you can help, your credentials, and other real-estate services you offer. But don’t make it sound too “pitchy’ as people don’t really like being sold to.
They want someone who is there to help them find their dream home or dream investment property.
Add value and establish authority by sharing educational posts about real estate or some tips and tricks that may help inexperienced buyers navigate the real estate market better.
And don’t forget to add a “call-to-action” like “email me at yourname.com” or a “send me a message here” button in easy-to-spot areas on your site. These areas could be the upper right corner of your website and/or the bottom of your website’s page.
We can all agree that creating a website from scratch can be a lot of work. But it’s well worth the hassle.
You will have an online portfolio that is easily accessible to your ideal clients. It will be easier for them to get in touch with you. Plus, it makes you look professional, experienced, and more importantly, trustworthy!
Why Invest Time and Money on a Real Estate Website?
We won’t lie.
It takes time to create a website that truly embodies your beliefs and approaches in real estate.
Because of that, you might ask yourself, “Is it worth the time and money to create a website?”
Yes.
And here are some reasons why…
Reason #1: Lead Generation
Making sure that your website matches your brand and is optimized for the search engine is the best way to find and keep clients. It’s also easier for clients to send referrals if they have a proper website link to share with their friends and colleagues looking for a real estate agent.
Reason #2: Establish Trust and Authority
Real estate agents are trusted only if they are known to have a good reputation, knowledge, and experience in all things real estate. A website helps you by giving you a space to share value posts, show recent sales, and even write helpful blogs to help educate individuals who are starting in real estate.
Reason #3: Brand Awareness
To help your clients develop their trust and loyalty towards your business, they have to know what YOU are all about. A website is a perfect portfolio for this. A website that has good-quality, meaningful, relevant, and consistent design will help deliver that to website visitors.
Reason #4: Quick and Easy Updates
Part of building trust and authority is to upload relevant posts. And what is more valuable than updates on new listings, property sold, and new changes with the laws and regulations related to real estate? A real estate website that shares timely, relevant, and valuable content is sure to generate good traffic.
Conclusion
So, should you go through all that trouble to create your website? Yes!
We can all agree that having to learn a new platform is a lot of work. But the results are worth every minute you spent on that website.
With the tips we gave you, you’ll have a good idea about how to create a custom website that contains all the right information, photos, and value posts about your real estate business.
Besides, if you don’t want to create a website yourself, you can employ a friend or a freelancer who specializes in that.