5 Tips for a Website that Showcases Your Brand

In today's real estate market, more and more people are turning to the Internet. In fact, just last year The National Association of REALTORS® reported that online websites were seen as most useful in the home search process at 86 percent. Furthermore, real estate agents' websites were listed as a top marketing method for homes at 50 percent.

So just how important is it for a real estate professional to leverage their own website as an information source? Very!

According to Top Producer, "no one knows better than you that first impressions matter. Since many prospects will be forming those impressions by checking you out online, your website needs to be sleek, mobile-friendly and above all, accurately showcase your brand and tell your story."

If you're ready to win at the digital marketing game, they also offer five tips to keep in mind while creating or updating your website:

1. Make sure it displays flawlessly on any device

Last year, 72 percent of buyers used a mobile website or tablet search device in their home search (NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2016). Not to mention, mobile and tablet traffic surpassed desktop worldwide at the end of 2016. Users will increasingly browse from their mobile device, so prepare your website to support the multi-device user.

2. Use a stunning, meaningful hero image

Your website's visual assets are what will initially capture the attention of your audience and encourage them to continue to browse and hopefully convert.

3. Don't forget the power of testimonials

Invesp reported that 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Meaning, eight out of every ten website visitors are using reviews to decide whether to do business with you.

4. Keep your website simple

You only have a few moments to capture a visitor's attention. Bombarding them with too many special effects may not be the best route. When it comes to web design and layout, simplicity will not be mistaken for lack of innovation.

5. Don't just focus on property listings

According to Simply Measured, when your audience finds value in your content, it "increases the length of time they spend engaging and encourages them to share with their friends. It also gives people a compelling reason to come back for more, perhaps without even being prompted."

For a quick recap, download the infographic here.

Bonus! Here are three additional tips to help your improve your online presence with your website:

1. Make local references throughout your website

When potential buyer and seller clients search online, improve your rank by using local terms. If you focus on a particular area in Michigan, this should be highlighted. Search engines strive to provide relevant information to those searching, so be sure to use this to your advantage.

2. Make engagement easy

You've put a lot of work into perfecting your website. Be sure to integrate tools that engage and retain visitors.

• Display social media follow buttons throughout your site and blog to attract more social media followers
• Allow visitors to subscribe to your blog, newsletter and/or email list. This offers an outlet for ongoing communication and lead conversion (make sure you have the tools in place to engage once they sign up - learn more)
• Offer a 'click to share' feature to allow visitors to easily share your content to their followers (who just may be in the market to buy or sell a home)

3. Make measuring your success easy

As with anything, it's important to set goals for your website! You may be interested in your website's conversion rates or where your website traffic is coming from. An effective way to measure your sites performance or success is with Google Analytics. If you haven't set up analytics tracking on your website, here is a step-by-step guide straight from Google.

This article originally appeared in the ListHub newsletter.