Why a bad real estate website could be the downfall of your estate agency and what you absolutely must watch out for

Just a couple of weeks ago, our Real Estate Pay Per Click Management partners blogged about the importance of facing the real estate recession head on with an effective marketing strategy. There’s no doubt that this is the time to take stock of the situation and make sure every bit counts - and one of the most important pieces of your real estate marketing jigsaw is, of course, your website itself.

This is why we were delighted to read Jim Cronin’s excellent post on the Real Estate Tomato blog, titled, “Is your website working against your real estate career?”

If you’re thinking that that title is there just for shock effect, think again! Or better still, click the link and read every word of that blog post. You’re sure to learn a whole lot from the vital list of do’s and don’ts that will make or break your website - complete with reasons why and merciless real life examples of those unforgivable practices that do your real estate business more harm than good.

This post resonated with us so much because it just about summarises everything we have been telling our web design clients over the years about how to market their real estate websites and how to make them relevant to their visitors and easy to use at the same time.

Things like:

• Start a real estate blog and provide relevant content for your visitors to enjoy on a regular basis so you build trust and establish yourself as an authority at the same time
• Don’t use Flash intros or welcome screens, but send your visitors straight to where the meat is
• Link to other estate agents, comment on their blog posts and participate in your local real estate community
• Get yourself a LinkedIn account and start building an invaluable social network of contacts from which to source new clients and business partners
• Put an ear to the ground to listen to feedback from both your current clients and prospective ones, so you get a global picture of what your business looks like from the outside

The only one thing we do not totally agree with is where Jim advises against property request forms. We find from experience that a simple, but prominent, quick enquiry form makes it easy for property-hunters to contact with you and is an invaluable means of generating those extra leads.

But all the rest is one bit of invaluable advice after the other.

Is your website working against your real estate career? That really is the question you should really be asking yourself, so if you only read one other real estate marketing article this week - or even this year - make it the Real Estate Tomato blog post.