Home buyers depend on real estate agents to give them advice, options, and above all else, honesty.
However, a survey conducted by Choice Home Warranty found that 67.5 percent of Americans don’t trust real estate agents. What steps can you take to establish and earn that all-important trust factor?
One of the best ways to cultivate trust is by creating positive first impressions. These days, first impressions don’t typically occur in person — they happen online.
Cultivating trust online is difficult, but with the right features and a website that truly stands out from the masses, it’s possible. Here’s an overview of the important features to include in a website for a real estate agent.
Show off your images
Home buyers want to see pictures, and plenty of them! Images are expected on websites for real estate agents, but how you display those images makes a big difference.
You have a few options to consider. It might be a good idea to create a portfolio of your properties. You can also place images of the interiors of each home into a gallery that can be expanded into a full-screen carousel. Don’t hesitate to use both options — the more pictures you show, the more home buyers will be enticed to visit your properties in real life.
Providing virtual tours with video is also a great option. You want prospective home buyers to visualize themselves walking through their potential future homes.
Build trust with a blog
Crafting a blog for your website adds a unique value for clients. It showcases your real estate expertise and more of your personality, helping home buyers understand that you’re a knowledgeable and trustworthy agent.
You want to keep your blog informative so it delivers value. Ask yourself, “What information will help my clients the most?” Creating content that answers these common questions will help establish your expertise and authority in your space. But don’t shy away from showcasing success stories from your business as well!
You can also address common real estate questions on your site so that prospective clients believe that you care enough to answer home buyers’ questions.
Make yourself available
Another key element that goes into real estate websites is a contact form that encourages prospective customers to reach out.
You may want to place your contact form on a dedicated contact page, but including one on every page is ideal. This helps you collect essential contact information — including names, emails, and phone numbers — regardless of where a home buyer is on your website.
Prove your past success
A key part of earning trust online is by using social proof, or evidence that other people worked with you and enjoyed it.
An estimated 90 percent of people read online reviews to determine whether a product or service is right for them, according to Forbes. Spotlight previous home-buyers-turned-homeowners with positive testimonials about their experiences working with you.
Cultivating trust among prospective clients is difficult, but not impossible. Include these features on your website to build credibility and relationships with new clients.
Five WordPress.com real estate websites to inspire you
If you’re looking to create an effective real estate website, start by evaluating what other industry professionals have done.
Ranked in no particular order, let’s explore five WordPress.com real estate websites created by top real estate pros around the country.
1. Keith Goad, Real Estate Broker — Chicago, Illinois
Highlights:
- Design and clarity — Keith’s site offers an elegant, user-friendly design. You also don’t have to wonder what Keith’s specialty is; he puts it front and center above the main menu navigation in both his logo and tagline.
- Value — Keith’s site does a great job of providing valuable educational content. For instance, his blog is chock-full of helpful tips and educational videos. You can easily find listings of historic or vintage homes for sale in Chicago. He even provides a resources page with his recommendations for “vintage contractors, designers, architects, and landscapers to provide specialized skill sets.”
2. Lindsay Rubens, J.D., Realtor Associate — Miami, Florida
Highlights:
- Style and branding — Lindsay’s real estate blog not only looks great, but also quickly informs visitors that she speaks both English and Spanish. Plus, she has a J.D. degree from University of Miami School of Law. Who better to represent you and cover the details when you’re buying or selling a luxury home in a heavily bilingual community?
- Social media — Lindsay does an exemplary job in using her blog’s sidebar widgets. For instance, she encourages you to join her more than 2,000 blog subscribers and follow her Instagram and Facebook accounts.
3. The Restivo Group Realtors — Memphis, Tennessee
Highlights:
- Great navigation — The navigation on The Restivo Group’s website makes it easy for both home buyers and sellers to find what they’re looking for: property listings, property-management services, information about Memphis and surrounding areas, and more.
- Pre-screening — Scroll down their For Buyers page and check out the helpful contact form tools they’ve included. As a real estate agent, wouldn’t you love to have this information in hand as soon as a prospective client reached out to you?
4. Modern Asheville — Asheville, North Carolina
Highlights:
- Visual engagement — Modern Asheville’s website offers a ton of helpful information for buyers, sellers, and investors living in this artsy mountain city. One thing that really stands out is all that you can do with images to make your content stand out on a WordPress.com website. Instead of simply using text and links in their sidebar sections, they use images and other visuals to engage visitors.
5. Chris Lenquist, Broker, Ad Astra Realty — Kansas City, Kansas
Highlights:
- Salesmanship and expertise — Looking for a real estate broker in Kansas City to help you get into real estate investing? Check out Chris’s website. First, he instantly personalizes his website with a friendly, professional picture of himself designed right into the header area of his website. Second, he uses his blog and other site pages to provide useful data about local market conditions, market cycles, and various real estate investment tips. He also highlights his expertise in the sidebar of his site via industry magazine interviews and articles.
Hopefully these real estate websites give you a clearer sense of what you need to do on your own website to turn it into an effective sales tool. Get to it and build yours today with WordPress.com!
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