Must Haves for Every Real Estate Website

Posted on by Ken Granger

The age of waiting for calls from prospective clients is over. To be successful moving into 2018, real estate agents have to have an effective web presence. Most home buyers and sellers now start the process of listing their home (and finding homes for sale) online. To accommodate their needs and increase your visibility, here are 5 must-have tools your real estate website should include.

1. An Intuitive Home Page

Naturally, your homepage tends to be the first spot that both home buyers and sellers land on. That means it has to be intuitive, not keeping your visitors for more than a couple seconds before offering them ways to navigate deeper into the site.

The home page should speak to both buyers and sellers. Large buttons should open different opportunities for each audience segment. Our online attention span is just 8 seconds short, which means that you have limited time to prompt action. The faster you can get your audience deeper into your website, the better.

2. A Natural, Map-Based Search

Especially home buyers will come to your website to search for available properties above all. And even sellers will do the same, seeking to gauge the market before listing their own home. That, in turn, makes your search function a crucial part of your real estate website.

Offer more than just a search bar where your audience can enter a street name or zip code. Instead, a map-based search can be more natural to your audience, allowing them to browse neighborhoods and surrounding areas. Ideally, filters on home variables such as bedrooms and price can make the search function even more natural.

3. Large Listing Photos and Other Visuals

When it comes to highlighting your listings, visuals are key. Our brains function on this level; in fact, visual content can increase audience recall of important information from 10 percent to almost 65 percent. Information is processed faster and retained more easily.

As a real estate agent, you have an undeniable opportunity in this area. Listings just beg to be shown off using visuals. Simple listing photos are a great idea and is essential for every home on your website. But consider going beyond that. For instance, a slideshow or video tour can draw potential homebuyers in to learn more.

4. Detailed Listing Pages with Home Values

Speaking of your individual listings: when it comes to the homes you’re looking to sell, make sure you get as detailed as possible. The more you know, and the more you can convey, the more credible the home will become in the eyes of your audience.

That means listing not just number and size of bedrooms, but also details about the neighborhood, school district, and more. Showcase not just the price of the home, but also its current (objective) market value and the property taxes. Give potential buyers a full picture, and they will thank you by giving you their trust.

5. Responsive and Mobile-Friendly Experience

Finally, consider how your audience is browsing your website. In our age of digital connectivity, they’re at least as (if not more) likely to pull up your website while driving past a home for sale as they are on desktop computer or laptop. Your online presence needs to account for that fact.

Above all, that means creating a website that functions equally well on screens of all sizes. Most larger companies have turned toward responsive design, which adjusts dynamically based on whether it’s viewed on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop. Everything about your website, from its design to its navigation and text, should be designed with mobile devices in mind.

Yes, individual real estate agents and small companies in the space have a chance to stand out among the big guns. But to get to that point, they have to get their website right. With the above tips, you can create a website that helps you compete with and even compare favorably against alternatives like Zillow and Realtor.com.

What is a landing page?

Posted on by Ken Granger

In today’s online marketplace, the landing page has become indispensable. In a nutshell, a landing page is the first glimpse of your business a potential customer receives. Designed with the intent of calling the customer to action, your landing page will typically be accessed by a customer through an advertisement or referral link. It is your first chance to sell your product or service to the customer, meaning that an effective landing page can make or break an effective online marketing strategy. Below, we’ll cover a few reasons why small businesses with great landing pages have an edge over the competition.

A Quick Sell

When a customer stumbles on your page, they should not need to navigate an extensive website to discover who they are working with, what service they need, or how best your business can provide it. A landing page allows you to drive these principles down immediately, without risking the loss of a potential sale due to a short attention span.

A good landing page grasps the customer’s attention immediately– they are interested, and far more likely to invest more time exploring your business.

Search Engine Optimization

A fantastic way to improve your search rankings is by providing locally-minded content. Customers searching for a new realtor, for example, are more likely to receive a listing with such content.  By including adequate amounts of local community-focused content on your landing page, and enjoying the subsequent traffic of users accessing the page, you maximize the odds of your landing page reaching a potential customer in your area.

Building Rapport

Similar to above, great landing pages often include content from social marketing platforms, enhancing the user’s connection to you. One of the first impressions these users receive is an insight into you and your network– this dispenses with the user’s need to do further research on you and your business, as your community, reputation, and personality are already in-hand.

Directed Action

An excellent use of a landing page is for referral links. As an example, consider a user looking for a new home browsing mortgage calculators online to see what they can afford. At the bottom of the page, a link to your landing page invites them to browse homes within their budget in the area– this link takes them to your page, wherein you can immediately show why you are the agent they should use. Use of landing pages through referral links pairs customers requiring a particular service now with the perfect provider of that service– you, and your business.

Maximized Traffic

Like any page, your landing page can also be customized to ensure exposure to the exact markets you require. Consider a landing page that provides resources a browsing user may be interested in– to follow the example above, your landing page could feature a free eBook on the best financing for mortgages in your area, or local events directed towards educating first-time homeowners. By including products, information, and keywords relevant to your business on your landing page, you can maximize click-through traffic from potential customers you may otherwise have missed.

Performance Insights

By using a landing page as part of a campaign, it makes it easy to track what content is maximizing the return on your investment. Tracking user behavior allows you to fine-tune the performance of your page, and identify what resources are commanding the most (or highest quality) traffic. Many landing pages will include, for example, a survey or contact form– besides promoting an immediate call to action, the data gleaned from this content ensures your marketing strategy is attracting the right clientèle, as well as providing a solid list of leads for potential business.

Summary

These are just a few examples of why landing pages are such a powerful marketing tool for small businesses. When devising your marketing campaign, ensuring your landing page is correctly tailored to your needs will provide high traffic, dependable business, and a stellar return on your advertising investment. For more information on polishing your landing page, contact us at BrandCo.

5 Tips for a More Consistent Brand in 2018

Posted on by Ken Granger

The success and growth of your small business hinge in great part on your ability to build brand consistency. Contrary to popular belief, your brand is much more than your logo or name. Building your brand requires dedication to developing a consistent strategy, call to action, and mode of communicating with your client. Below is a look at the key role of brand consistency and some effective ways that your small business can build brand consistency.

Why is brand consistency important for small businesses?

A key challenge for small business owners is building authenticity for their companies. Fortunately, this can be achieved in a cost-effective manner by promoting brand consistency. In order to be successful, brand consistency must extend beyond your products and services to every element of your organization. Below are some of the top reasons why brand consistency is important for small businesses:

  • Brand consistency builds your company’s legitimacy
  • Customers are able to recognize your company quickly
  • Consistency gives your business a professional image
  • Prospects are more likely to trust your company
  • Brand consistency helps keep all company employees on the same page
  • Your pitches to prospective clients are more apt to be well-received

How can a small business establish brand consistency?

Clearly, there are many reasons why small business owners should strive to establish brand consistency. From building company recognition to fostering trust, brand cohesiveness is vital to taking your business to the next level of success. There is no single step to take to achieve brand consistency. As a business owner, you must use a compilation of strategies to give your brand a unified voice. Below are some key ways that small businesses can build a consistent brand:

1) Create a brand guide for your company and employees. A brand guide is a helpful document that will help ensure that all of your employees are on the same page with respect to branding. Topics to reference in your brand guide include your logo usage, brand colors, media formatting, and signage.

2) Use the same font across all media. One of the best ways to create a cohesive brand experience for your customers is to use the same typeface for all client communications. As summarized by Wistia designer, Joe Ringenberg, this measure helps to give your brand a unified voice:

“For a brand to have a personality, all the things it makes need to look like they were drawn by the same hand,” – Joe Ringenberg, design lead at Wistia.

3) Keep colors consistent across all media. Maintaining consistency in your company colors is a critical part of the branding process. You can help keep your colors consistent by streamlining your vendors and using color management software.

4) Regularly review your media and update any inconsistent items. Performing an annual content audit helps to ensure that you correct any inconsistencies in color, font, or formatting. Your content audit should include a thorough review of your website, social media pages, business cards, and media.

5) Make sure to incorporate your brand into your company culture. Your offices, vehicles, and employee presentations should all reflect your company’s brand in the same fashion. Additionally, brand consistency should be integrated into all employee onboarding activities and training initiatives.

The Bottom Line

Brand consistency plays a vital role in establishing a small business as a legitimate organization. By following the tips above, you can create a consistent, professional company image that your customers will immediately recognize. For more information on bolstering your company’s online presence, you can enlist the guidance of an industry expert. By seeking the expertise of a branding expert, you can help your small business gain a competitive edge in your industry.

SEO for the Busy Entrepreneur

Posted on by Ken Granger

In the real estate business, SEO is the key to being discovered and to gaining user engagement. By virtue of the profession, a good SEO strategy requires a keen attention to detail, and using your location as a key component of the strategy to really drive users and gain a following.

A well-crafted SEO strategy will likely need some patience in the beginning, as well as a decent amount of tweaking in order for it to be really successful.

However, the best way to mitigate the number of edits needed after an SEO strategy is deployed to follow some of these key tips, and use these to design a strategy that will give you the following you need to be successful in digital marketing.

1. Original content is key

Many real estate agents often fall victim to their busy schedules and are unable to create original content efficiently. This leads to more copy-pasting and using social media sporadically to gain a following. Unfortunately, though, that is not an effective long-term SEO strategy.

Copy-pasting content will hurt your SEO rather than help it and will make it that much more difficult to stand out in the millions of search results being presented to users. Taking time out to develop original content might seem like a heavy investment of resources essentially, but it is well worth the effort.

2. Being hyper-local is essential

The key component of a good SEO strategy for real estate agents? Leveraging the hyper-local business of your nature. It is far more essential to invest resources in local SEO efforts rather than general. Local SEO efforts are able to yield great results and this will help you gain a local following that can be converted into loyal users.

Real estate is all about location, so think about search results in a similar manner. You want to ensure that you are the forefront of your local scene and that users are able to easily find you and differentiate you from the crowd.

3. Become a key provider of lifestyle information

You might be wracking your brain for original content ideas, especially from a long-term perspective. One of the best ways to develop original content for your SEO efforts is to really think about the lifestyle you are offering and how to explain that to users.

Whether it is providing information on amenities, location or just the general lifestyle – develop content that will help users feel like they are experiencing what the properties are all about without needing to be there. Once you gain a consistent rhythm in publishing this content, you will become a key provider that users will look to learn more.

4. Become a local expert

The earlier point also relates to this one in terms of long-term content ideas. Balance the lifestyle information with content that is geared towards positioning you as a local expert. This could include events in the area, fun restaurants and nightlife options, and just general information.

Users are going to look at your content to learn more about the lifestyle but also about the area, so use your content as a way to showcase that. This will highlight what makes these properties more unique compared to others based on the local events taking place, and drive your SEO efforts as a local expert.

5. Continually find ways to be helpful

At the end of the day, your SEO efforts will be successful if you are able to deliver value to your users. Use your content and website to be as helpful as possible, from the kinds of articles you offer to the text you use on your website landing pages.

A successful SEO strategy rests on the idea that you are providing real content and value to your users, and that is what will drive your popularity. Finding innovative ways to make your content more helpful and useful will be what really drives your success, so it is important to keep the focus on that.

It’s time to get excited about your Brand!

Posted on by Ken Granger

The excitement is real when we reveal your new branding package.  This is a video Bryan Dale shot after printing his package.  I’m super proud of this brand and want to say thanks to Bryan for trusting us with such an important part of his business!

 

Dreams are coming to life. I am very excited for what's coming next! #goldteam #branding #realestate #kellerwilliams

A post shared by Bryan Dale NYC???????????? (@daleproperties) on

NAR Announces Free Placester Websites for Members

Posted on by Ken Granger

Yesterday the news has hit that the National Association of Realtors will be including websites from Placester into their benefits packages at no additional charge. Placester is the home of IDX websites, lead management, and more in an all-in-one digital marketing platform for real estate professionals. Placester’s mission is to help real estate professionals work smart in a digital world. Their solutions enable individuals and teams to identify and benefit from more opportunities, all while providing an outstanding experience for real estate consumers.

The addition of all NAR members means there will be 1.2 million real estate websites hosted on Placester’s already robust platform. These new perks include a website with IDX integration, mobile-readiness, and mortgage-calculator. Not to mention, many more amazing add-ons within the platform.

BrandCo has been on the forefront of design integration within the Placester platform as the first Placester Certified Partner. Being one of three companies that have full ability to customize the website’s look and feel past the provided templates, we have designed and launched over 800 Placester websites in under a year. Having a custom design for your site has become more important than ever with the introduction of this new NAR benefit.

Do you want to potentially have a website that looks quite like the other 1.2 million real estate agents within the platform? Stand out with a design that speaks directly to your audience about your business. Take a look at what we have to offer to build the value of a website that can speak volumes for you.

You can read the full article here with an Inman subscription

This Is Why You Fail – 4 Mistakes To Avoid On Your Website

Posted on by Ken Granger

Every website owner begins their journey to taking over their piece of the internet with enthusiasm. However, that enthusiasm typically fades over time and websites are left to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, no website is meant to be ‘set it and forget it’. Not to mention, there a number other items that website owners overlook that are huge pitfalls when it comes to being successful. Over time, websites need love and dedication and should be ready to upgrade when new industry standards take place. Hopefully, your website will be safe from these next 4 blunders that typical website owners make…In the words of Yoda, “This is why you fail.”

Not Mobile Friendly

That largest majority of internet surfing these days is done on cell phones or other mobile devices. If your website isn’t ready to be viewed on these new popular devices, you’re at an instant disadvantage. I can’t tell you how many websites I’ve immediately left because it wasn’t easily viewable on my cell phone. You have probably the same experience.

Responsive websites even take a priority when indexed within Google. If this isn’t a huge plus for taking your older websites mobile friendly, I don’t know what is! Almost two years ago, Google saw the trend of mobile devices doing the majority to searches and wanted to make it easier for those of us on the go. Having a website that responds to the size of the screen is a big one. A must!

An Overloaded Menu

Short and sweet is the name of the game when it comes to the navigation to your website. A website that has too much in its menu proves to its visitors that there’s no focus. Think through the journey that you’re wanting people to take through your website, these are the items that should be on your menu. Organize this in a way that makes sense for the audience that you’re attempting to attract, not just in what makes sense to you.

Every page of your website does not need to be on your menu! The goal is to get your visitors to from page to page as you have your content designed to interconnect, creating a higher potential for click through.

Not Regularly Adding Content

Adding content on a regular basis allows for you to continuously get more potential links in search engines. This is one of the most important ways to gain exposure aside from marketing. Google sends out spiders that crawl all over the words on websites, finding answers to your questions. The more words you put on your website that you expect your audience to type into the search engines, the more likely you are to be found. Not to mention, this keeps your website active and current, adding to it by way of pages and posts that can lead to one another. This is the biggest key to a successful website and one that is most often overlooked. Maintaining your website definitely, involves adding content regularly.

Forgetting About SEO

Search Engine Optimization takes an additional step to adding that content to make a difference with your website. While adding content is extremely important, doing a little extra work when you do so, can really pay off. Things like meta descriptions and meta titles take seconds to create and will make Google happy. Not to mention, adding alt text to your images, takes your imagery the extra mile. Other things, such as submitting your website’s sitemap to search engines, helps give them the opportunity to know what all your site has to offer.

 

Now that you know the 4 common mistakes when it comes to websites, you know what you can do to make a difference with your site and to become a successful part of the internet. Now, go forth, Padawan, and conquer!

How to Make your Website “Sticky” by Improving your Bounce Rate

Posted on by Ken Granger

We’ve all done it before.  Clicked on a website and thought to ourselves’ “ew no”  and clicked the back button.  In essence, we’ve “bounced” off their website.  Officially “bounce rate” can be defined as:

The percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.

Simple enough…right? So, how do we decrease the chances that someone will bounce off our website after seeing just a single page? How do we keep them and have them dive deeper?

Easy to Follow Design

I’m sure you’ve experienced a time when you’ve been surfing the internet trying to find that one specific answer that you’re looking for. You enter a website and it’s generic looking and hard to follow. How often do you just click the backspace and go back to your Google search because it just wasn’t worth the effort? Well, you just contributed to that website’s high bounce rate.

You can easily prevent bounce rate increase due to this issue by having a design that has easy to follow cues for your visitors. A clean and simplistic menu is a great place to start. Many websites have overly complicated navigations that confuse and, eventually, turn your visitors off.

Another way to reduce bounce rate is to have a striking design for your website. This is usually best achieved when hiring a professional design firm that understands industry standards and who have the success of your business at heart. This will help you avoid looking like just another cookie-cutter site that feels generic.

Calls to action used throughout your website will also help to guide your visitors to dive deeper into your website by appealing to their needs and fulfilling the purpose of your website.

Focus on Your Purpose

Every website has a focus. Why does it exist? Typically to achieve something very specific. Most real estate agents create their website to get leads, but the actual website typically has a purpose of buying or selling homes. So, what would be the most important thing to point visitors into the direction of? Property Search! Another quick example would be for a pizza restaurant to focus on ordering pizza.

If your website has a purpose, you’re more likely to attract the right audience, which leads into the next talk point.

Know Your Audience

Your audience and your purpose go hand in hand. Part of your purpose is the kind of person that your website is trying to attract in order to fulfill its purpose.

A great example of this would be the comparison of two different types of demographics. Take, for instance, millennials versus senior citizens. These two groups use the internet and gather information very differently. Millennials are more likely to want social networks to be tied in, you could market your website on snap chat, or utilize large amounts of live feeds or videos. Senior Citizens may prefer the option to be able to print more documents to save for later or want to be able to contact you by phone, so your contact information should be very visible. Having your audience in mind helps you market and maintain yourself best.

If you can achieve these simple points with your website, you’re bound to see a drastic decrease in the bounce rate of your website. Bounce rate is one of those most important numbers tracked with your Google Analytics account and can definitely, in turn, affect your Google search rankings.

 

Small business website design

Posted on by Ken Granger

Elements of small business website design

Small business website design can have a huge impact when done right, and can be costly when done wrong. Companies that focus on modern web design elements regularly outrank competitors and more easily attract clients. This is because every element on a website should be purposeful and easy to understand. Viewing or analyzing a website is generally a qualitative process, rather than a quantitative one. Let’s look at the elements that make up a modern small business website.

Responsive design

Here is the thing – you need your website to be accessible across all devices and platforms, from a smartphone to traditional PCs. Realistically, only a responsive design can help you do that. Responsive design means the website will scale to any device in real time. This element makes your website far more accessible- and with more people using smartphones to access websites than PCs, it just makes sense.

White space

There’s so much to be said for intelligently used white space in web design. Of course, when we say “white space”, we don’t actually mean it has to be the color white. We mean space that is void of anything: data, images, graphics, text… seriously, anything. White space is a critical component to a well-designed page, because, it helps your users focus in on what’s relevant. When you use white space correctly, users will be directed to your products or services in a manner that feels natural.

Clean lines

Clean lines help to maintain order on a site. Good web design let’s the lines carry the flow of information over the span of your page. When used in conjunction with proper white space, the result is a site that’s astonishingly easy to navigate and use. A good rule of thumb to use when evaluating ease-of-use for your site is to run it past someone who isn’t tech savvy. If they can get around, anyone can.

Consistent fonts and colors

It is easy to get carried away with different web fonts and different color schemes. Don’t be afraid to put your foot down to ensure your site stays consistent. Any publication, either online, or in print, can suffer from fonts and colors that keep changing. Pick a style, and really whittle it down to the essentials, and have the courage to stick with it.

Invest in great imagery

Spice up your website with rich media, including great pictures and professional videos. Ensure that you do not overload web pages with images and videos – web pages still need to load quickly. When used correctly, imagery should compliment your website’s design and help establish the point of the page.

Limit Distractions

If you’re already making good use of white space and clean lines, limiting distractions should come easily. Have a call to action at the end of a section and make sure it fits naturally. A good web design can guide users eyes to where you want them to be. This will allow your users to focus on what they’re really looking for, and what really matters to them.

If you’re working with static content, take the time to make the best choices and don’t be afraid to change things as you go along. Invest time in making the right small business website design, and don’t forget the basics.

Getting started with online advertising

Posted on by Ken Granger

With buyers and sellers turning to the internet first, generating online leads has become more important today than ever before. That is why online advertising, also known as Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC), has become a popular choice for businesses looking to attract highly targeted leads.

Whether a company is a small startup, or fortune 500 company, PPC advertising is accessible to businesses of any size. PPC advertising works just as it sounds; when a visitor clicks on an online ad, the business pays for that click. The real power of this type of advertising comes from how highly targeted ads can be. Working with an agency, a business can target an audience during a specific time of day, day of the week, certain income bracket, and geographical area, amongst many other targeting parameters.

Two companies that offer businesses the most reach are Google and Facebook. Each have their own online advertising options, with particular advantages and disadvantages.

Google AdWords

Google offers advertisers placement of their ads on the search engine’s search results. When a searcher types in keywords related to the advertiser’s ad, Google shows the advertiser’s ad. For instance, a searcher might be looking for a real estate agent to sell their home and may use a keyword such as “realtors”. This would trigger an ad by all the real estate agents who are advertising in that area. Google has an advantage in reaching people who have a high intent to purchase. This also means the cost per click for most keywords will be higher than other online advertising options.

Facebook Ads

Companies can use Facebook’s advertising platform to target potential clients as they browse their news feeds. Facebook offers different advertising options depending on the audience and campaign goals. One advantage Facebook offers over other online advertising options is access to greater targeting parameters. This means advertisers can target based on things like income level, topics liked, or the industry their audience works in.

Retargeting

Retargeting PPC advertising serves ads to web visitors after they have left a business’ site. While ads draw visitors to a website, they do not guarantee sales. Retargeting ads remind people about products and services they previously saw on a business’ website. They only target visitors who expressed interest in those products or services.

Optimizing

Creating better lead generation forms is a simple way to help optimize conversions from PPC advertising. Optimized forms help collect all the necessary information about a visitor, allowing visitors to become customers.

Pay per click advertising provides an excellent return on investment when optimized properly. Working with an agency can help businesses achieve stellar results in their PPC advertising.

 

Getting Started

Want to take the trial and error out of PPC advertising? BrandCo can help you optimize your campaign and drive more leads. Fill out the form below to get started: