Intro and the requirements for a successful real estate website

Successful real estate websites must meet consumers’ expectations and help drive your business.

In this article, we’ll walk through the features that our 24 most successful customers are using to grow their businesses in 2020.

What your real estate website must do

Great first impressions and a modern home search are a must to generate leads and grow your business.

The best real estate websites strike a perfect balance in function and form, making consumers feel like they’ve come to the right place. The best sites do more than simply work on mobile, they shine!

You must first decide what success looks like for you and prioritize the goals you’d like your website to accomplish are. How important is building a strong hyperlocal brand compared to generating new leads or helping to close existing leads into completed transactions? Our feature list below will help guide you in iterating on your current website or building a new one.

Many agents build simple “business card” style websites or use an outdated IDX (e.g. using iFrames, subdomains, limited data, etc) and are left wondering why their past clients and new leads still go to Zillow or Trulia, where the clients’ contact info and budget are given to competing agents.

95% of home buyers visit real estate agents’ websites during their home search. — The National Association of REALTORS®, 2018 Report

Your site serves as the hub for any successful real estate marketing strategy today. It’s the digital face of your business that potential clients use to vet you against other agents and decide if they want to work with you. Your site can also protect your clients’ personal info and guide them through finding the right home or selling their current one.