As a real estate professional, you understand the importance of establishing a robust and reliable clientele list. Your livelihood depends on cultivating a community of customers who depend on you to help them list, sell or find their next property. To this end, the importance of establishing a marketing outreach program cannot be overlooked. Without designated strategies in place to meet new prospects and spread positive word-of-mouth advertising, your business could quickly become stagnant. One of the most important parts of a well-crafted marketing strategy is a dynamic, responsive and user-friendly website that makes it easy to browse your listings, learn more about your services and get in touch with you.

Are you working with an outdated website that’s less than intuitive? Or, have you failed to create a web presence to date? The good news is it’s not too late to make a switch for the better. Today, let’s take a look at five simple ways you can bring your website into the 21st century.

1. Create a blog.

One of the most proven and effective ways to demonstrate your thought leadership and grow your readership is to continually create and distribute relevant and thought-provoking information that fits your industry niche. For many professionals, this can be accomplished by starting a blog. If you’re a real estate agent, consider all of the data at your fingertips, coupled with your experience and know-how that you’ve gained throughout the years. You have plenty to say and share with your web viewers and the more informative and helpful your blog posts are, the more likely they are to share it with their own followers and help build your community of interest along the way.

Regardless of how professional your website is, it can be difficult to grow your traffic through static pages alone. To this end, a blog can help you stay top-of-mind with your followers and direct more traffic back to your site. You don’t have to post every day but aim to add a new post at least once a week to keep readers interested and coming back for more. Pressed for ideas? Think about common questions that you field from interested clients and start there. Chances are, others are wondering the same things.

2. Amplify the visuals.

Research reveals that we’re highly visual creatures and that most of us retain visual content longer than text-based information. To that end, be sure that your website features plenty of images of the gorgeous homes for sale or rent through your real estate agency. While you could wax poetic for days about a newly renovated kitchen or a farmhouse chic master bath, images speak louder than words and your readers will appreciate being able to actually visualize themselves in those spaces rather than imagine how they might look.

Want to take the visuals up a notch? Consider incorporating more video content into your website as well. One easy way to do this is to feature virtual tours of your featured properties that allow interested web visitors to actually feel as though they’re walking through the rooms. This can help them discern details such as dimensions, decor ideas, and layouts so they can make a more informed decision moving forward. You don’t have to invest thousands into a fancy video camera system to get started. Simply shoot the video with your iPhone, upload it to YouTube and embed it into your site.

3. Create an informative guide.

Especially for first-time buyers or sellers, the real estate process can be complicated and overwhelming to navigate. To help earn their trust and eventually win their business, it can be helpful to include an informative, step-by-step guide on your website. Doing so will set you apart from the competition, establish your expertise, and allow you to become a trusted resource to anyone who visits your site with inquiries in mind. This guide might look like a series of blog posts, or it might be a free white paper that you link to on your main homepage. Or, you may opt to record a podcast wherein you answer the most common inquiries you’ve received during your time as a real estate professional. Regardless, this kind of helpful and relevant data can make all the difference in converting an on-the-fence prospect.

4. Get rid of spammy elements.

No one likes going onto a website that’s full of pop-ups and annoying advertisements. To up the legitimacy of your website, host it on a platform that isn’t riddled with these spammy features. Along the same lines, avoid online marketing tactics that are too pushy. Of course, you want to grow your e-newsletter list, but you don’t need to include a flashing banner at the top of every page and subpage asking web visitors to sign up.

If you can create an unobtrusive web experience for your visitors that’s engaging and informative without being over-the-top, they’ll be more likely to stick around and explore your information a little longer, especially if they’re not worried about encountering a new pop-up at every turn.

5. Make sure it’s responsive.

Studies show that in 2019, the number of overall mobile phone users is expected to reach a staggering 4.68 billion. That means that people are browsing your listing on-the-go, whether they’re waiting for the bus, sitting in a meeting, or scrolling in a coffee shop. Hop on your smartphone and take a look at your website via your mobile browser. What does it look like? Are the graphics wonky? Is the text stretched out? Is everything loading correctly or is it taking forever to show up? If you find that your site is less than user-friendly when converted to mobile, it’s time to make a few adjustments to optimize it for this environment.

Google recently changed its algorithm to favor sites that are mobile friendly, so if you want to show up higher in search results, this step is a must. You may convert your site to a mobile-friendly hosting platform such as WordPress, or you may need to work directly with a web design company to help you build and convert your content. Either way, this is an important step that forward-focused real estate agents can’t afford to miss.

Moving Forward: Succeeding in the Online Real Estate Sphere

As you develop and tweak your website to appeal to both mobile and desktop users, the customer experience should remain a top priority. If you’re delivering content that they crave, in a format and timeline that they expect, then you’re that much more likely to pique their interest and lead them down the path to conversion. Especially in the real estate industry, getting your foot in the door with clients is key, as is establishing your authority. Thankfully, you can be both personable and professional at the same time, and a robust, responsive website is the ideal way to get there.