A great real estate agent website design can help you form a good impression on prospective clients. It can also help you nurture your leads and get more deals.
Studies show that 90% of homebuyers use the internet during their journey to buy a home. Therefore, it is essential to provide a good user experience and help your website visitors easy access and navigate your website.
Currently, there are 1,576,668 NAR members, so we all know there are millions of agents packed into the clutter.
As The Balance points out, “20% of agents do 80% of the business.”
Of course, that isn’t surprising. When someone uses an agent once, they aren’t very likely to change. 70% of house sellers, for instance, said that they’d use the same real estate agent again in the future.
This means real estate agents that get the business first keep the business.
But how do you ensure you get to the client before the competition?
Two words: the Internet.
Why Do You Need a Real Estate Agent Website?
It’s easy to think that you don’t need a website. You might have been in business for years and have had some success.
Offline real estate marketing is as powerful today as many years ago. Door hangers, open house fliers, and community events are worthy offline real estate lead generation ideas.
But that doesn’t mean you should limit your marketing strategies to offline exclusively.
In particular, every real estate agent needs a website for some reasons.
- Online marketing will save you time and money during the lead-generation process.
- SEO leads (Search Engine Optimization) tend to be higher quality because they’re inbound leads – when your prospects come looking for you rather than looking for them.
- Online and offline marketing strategies work best together. Our highest-performing members at Carrot use both in harmony rather than one in exclusion.
- Build your authority and credibility. Your market has dozens of other agents, so you must stand out from the clutter. Having a high-performance, personally optimized website can get you there.
So, you know that you need a website for your real estate agent business, but you might be new to online marketing with a website.
There are so many options and low-end platforms that you’re not exactly sure what you need for your real estate agent website.
So let’s dive in!
Real Estate Agent Website Design
As mentioned above, 90% of homebuyers use the internet during their buying journey.
And that makes sense. MLS browsing options, virtual tours, and housing photography make the web the perfect place to browse for homes and even choose which agent to work with.
The best real estate agent websites build authority, load fast, are SEO optimized, and communicate with visitors. Those are just a few things you must consider when designing your website or using a real estate agent website template.
But before diving into the nitty-gritty, let’s review a few real estate agent websites: non-Carrot and Carrot.
First, Sheerin Feizi.
Besides being a beautiful website, a few noteworthy things about Sheerin Feizi make it stand out.
The “Quick Search” option is most noteworthy at the top of the page.
When people visit your real estate agent website, they only want to do one of two things.
- Browse listings.
- Get to know you as an agent to determine whether they want to work with you.
Ideally, you want to let them do both of those things easily. And in the case of Sheerin Feizi, the “Quick Search” bar allows visitors to dive right into browsing through listings.
So too, does Sheerin Feizi’s “Featured Properties” section closer to the bottom of the page.
Scroll down a little bit further, and, as you’ll notice, Sheerin Feizi then aims to support the visitor’s second potential goal: to learn about the real estate agent.
Take Townsend Realty Group as another example of a real estate agent website that caters to visitors who want to learn about the agent or browse through listings.
You’ll notice a “Meet Us” button below for visitors seeking to sell or buy a house.
Townsend Realty Group encourages listing browsers, house sellers, and agent vetters to go straight where they want.
The best thing your website can do to help visitors is… well, get out of the way.
People who visit your website usually know what they want to do. And the faster you let them do that, the better.
Like Sheerin Feizi from the previous example, Townsend also builds credibility and authority with their “Meet Us” page.
Again, the website is accomplishing just a couple of simple goals.
- When people want to browse listings, let them.
- When people want to learn why they should work with you, guide them.
Mostly from conversion tests we’ve run here at Carrot, but partly as inspiration from the best in the business, we create real estate agent websites that accomplish those simple goals.
The benefit is that you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to design a website and don’t have to try to create one yourself.
Carrot gives you enough customization to stand apart from other realtors in the business but enough of a template to make the design process easy and effective.
How effective?
Since we started Carrot, we’ve generated over one million leads for our customers and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Here is another example from G.Stiles Realty.
As you can see from the above image, this website follows a similar pattern to those we looked at earlier.
First, it builds rapport with visitors by saying, “Roseburg’s #1 Independent Real Estate Brokerage.”
Then, it allows people to easily choose whether to buy, sell, or learn more about G.Stiles.
Finally, the page finishes with trust-building testimonials as proof that the visitor should work with G.Stiles and a bio that exudes professionalism and friendliness — two sought-after attributes of any real estate agent.
The point?
Your website needs to allow people to do two simple things:
- Search listings.
- Decide whether they trust you.
You can, of course, create your website.
Or… we can do it for you. The choice is yours, but we’d love to work with you if you think it fits.
7 Real Estate Agent Website Design Elements You Need To Dominate The Competition
Now, we’ll discuss seven things you can do — Carrot member or not — to help your website perform as you want.
1. Build Credibility The Moment Someone Lands On Your Website
Buying a house is one of the biggest decisions that people make in their life. People want to work with someone they can trust.
A study by Trulia revealed that people consider honesty and credibility among the most important factors when choosing a real estate agent to work with.
Here are three ways to immediately prove to visitors that you are trustworthy.
- Video Content
- Authentic Photos
- Compelling Testimonials
Video Content
Nothing builds credibility quite like video.
Not only does it prove that there’s a real person behind the website, but it also is a remarkable way to engage new audiences.
Why?
Because people love video.
They love it so much that video content accounts for 74% of all internet traffic.
And you can use that to your advantage.
Publish a video on your homepage that talks a bit about who you are and why people can trust you. Of course, don’t say, “This is why you should trust me.”
Instead, build rapport with your audience by talking about some of your accomplishments, why you love helping people, and how you got into the real estate industry in the first place.
What is your end goal? Make them feel good about choosing to work with you.
Homes By Krista — a real estate group in Brentwood, California — does this on their website.
Here’s the actual video so that you can watch it for yourself.
Try to keep it under five minutes — people have terrible attention spans — and, ideally, make it as short as possible without losing quality.
You want to convince people you’re their area’s best real estate agent. But you want to do that as quickly as possible.
Authentic Photos
People don’t just love videos. They also love photos.
And, generally speaking, the more authentic the photos, the better.
What do I mean by authentic?
Well, authenticity comes in many different forms. You might, for example, publish a photo of yourself in the middle of the job. Or you might take a picture of a real customer signing real papers.
Those photos don’t just communicate that you know what you’re doing (which builds trust), but they communicate that you’re a hard worker and people like you.
Here’s an example of this from G.Stiles.
And another example. Here, G.Stiles puts their team mission over a personable photo of the people in the group.
Remember this: when taking photos, authenticity beats fakery every single time.
Of course, there’s a balance. You don’t want to freak people out with a photo of you just getting out of bed. But you do want to come across as friendly and professional. Above all, though, you want to come across as a human.
For that reason, avoid stock photos at all costs.
Compelling Testimonials
Before people work with you, they want to know that others have worked with you and been remarkably satisfied with your service.
That gives prospects the confidence they need to give you a call or opt-in to your online form.
Testimonials are the best way to give them that confidence.
Here’s an example from Fox Realty Group in Santa Cruz…
As well as how Homes By Krista does it with a video testimonial…
If you’re looking for a real estate agent, you can trust to help you make one of the biggest decisions of your life; those testimonials work wonders for building credibility.
In effect, they say, “All these people love me. You will too.”
How, though, do you get great testimonials?
Well, here are six questions to ask your testimonials:
- What obstacle would have prevented you from buying/selling your home?
- What did you find as a result of working with you?
- What specific feature did you like most about your service?
- What are the three other benefits of the buying/selling process?
- Would you recommend my real estate services to others? If so, why?
- Is there anything you’d like to add?
Asking those questions will help you land remarkable testimonials.
However, consider including more than just the testimonial on your website.
You won’t always be able to find each of these elements, but when you can, add them.
- A picture of the person who gave the testimonial — Check Facebook or other social media platforms. Maybe even check your email if you conversed with the person in your inbox.
- First and last name, whenever possible — Don’t do things like “Lucas J.” or “Samantha G.” if you can avoid it. And definitely, don’t just use first names.
- The person’s profession — Add a quick one-line bio about who they are and what they do. Maybe even hyperlink this to their website to add another layer of realism.
For example, we have most of these elements on our website testimonials.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself,
People should just trust my testimonials without all of that extra effort.
Unfortunately, though, people are wary of trusting anything online. As you already know, there are a lot of liars in the digital space, and they ruin the game for the rest of us.
You must add extra elements (Image, bio, first and last name) to your testimonial to show people you are trustworthy.
2. Increase The Speed Of Your Website
You want to design a website that destroys the competition.
In terms of page speed, that means a couple of things.
First off, if your website is too slow, it’s easier (and faster) for visitors to exit your URL and go somewhere else.
You don’t want people to do that.
But there’s another problem with slow load speeds. It not only surges your website’s bounce rate but also hurts your Google rankings.
Even milliseconds count in Google’s eyes.
This means that the slower your website is, the lower the chance that Google will rank you on the first page of your target keywords.
A fast load speed is one of your website’s most important SEO ranking factors.
Because of this, we recently updated our Carrot websites to run even faster than before.
How fast?
Well, we tested them and received a score of 94 out of 100.
With Carrot, you’re in good hands.
If you want to design your website, do these things to increase your load speed.
- Optimize images.
- Clean up code.
- Use fewer plugins on your site.
- Reduce the number of redirects you’re using.
- Minimize HTTP requests.
- Reduce server response time.
3. Use Real Estate Agent Website Builder With IDX
Once, prospective homebuyers had to jump around to different listings to browse through houses.
Or, they had to find a cohesive MLS website that delivered all the listings simultaneously.
However, Internet Data Exchange (IDX) is changing how homebuyers browse through listings.
Instead of jumping from website to website, visitors can view listings natively on your website with IDX. This further means that they don’t have to leave your URL to browse through houses.
The best part is that you don’t have to do anything to update these listings. With IDX, they update automatically.
Of course, IDX integration is more of a maintenance strategy — since other real estate agent websites have it, you should too. Still, most people search for listings on Zillow or Realtor.com.
But, there are a few reasons — beyond maintenance — that you should have a real estate agent website with IDX.
- It encourages people to browse around your website’s listing options instead of going elsewhere to do so.
- It gives you a way to encourage email list opt-ins. With IDX, you can offer email updates about recent listings relevant to their preferences.
- It also allows you to choose properties to feature on your website easily. With a pool of automatically uploaded properties, you’re just a few clicks away from featuring ones you think will sell.
About nine out of ten homebuyers use an online resource during their house-buying journey.
With IDX, you won’t only stay in line with the competition; you’ll get ahead by featuring remarkable properties, growing your email list, and encouraging people to browse your website instead of bouncing.
4. Leverage A Design That’s Built To Convert
When people land on your real estate website, you don’t just want them to browse, and you don’t just want them to trust you.
Ultimately, you want them to convert. But to make that happen, you need a real estate agent website designed to convert visitors.
Here are two things you can do to build that website.
- Mobile Optimization
- The Buying Process
Mobile Optimization For Real Estate Agent Websites
The average American owns 3.6 internet-connected devices. And 36% of Americans have a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
This means that people don’t just browse your website on their laptops; they do it on their phones.
Why is this important?
Because if your website doesn’t adapt to the device people use to browse, they will have difficulty navigating your website, get frustrated, and leave.
Over 60% of Carrot’s leads are monthly from mobile devices.
This is why we’re so intentional about making our member’s websites mobile-friendly.
If you don’t have a mobile-responsive website, you’re behind the curve and likely losing business.
You can test your website on Google’s mobile-responsive website tester.
Just paste your website and click “Test URL” and you’ll see the results and mobile screenshot on the right.
If your website isn’t mobile responsive, it needs to be.
The Buying Process
When someone visits your website, where do they look first?
It’s an important question to ask and a difficult question to answer. Where people look can impact how many leads you generate and how many of those leads you convert.
Of course, everyone will look in slightly different places. But, by and large, we here at Carrot have found a system to the madness.
In fact, for our real estate investor websites, we found that people go through these stages.
- Problem aware
- Solution aware
- Vetting/verifying
- Decision
- Testimonial
And when people visit investor websites, they either want to sell their house as fast as possible or learn about the investor before working with them.
Which is exactly in line with how we’ve designed our real estate agent websites.
As you can see in the screenshot below, we help the eye travel from the most important CTA — “Homes For Sale” — to easy ways to learn more about the agent and what they offer — “New Construction,” “Our Reviews,” “Compare,” “Areas,” “Our Team,” and “Resources.”
And that system isn’t just hot air and mirrors. Instead, it’s based on vigorous conversion and heatmap testing at Carrot.
For instance, here’s proof that the “Meet the Team” section is important.
And similar proof about the “Featured Listings” tab.
We’ve created our real estate agent website builder with a similarly relentless focus on converting visitors.
First, we help you build credibility.
Then, we cater to the immediate needs of the visitor.
And finally, we allow people to navigate where they want to go easily.
You’re welcome to use the same system on your website.
Remember, since it’s your website, it’s your job to guide the visitor. Think about it like having a guest over to your house. You wouldn’t invite someone into your house without telling them where to hang their jacket, take a seat, or get a drink of water.
Your website should follow similar rules.
When someone visits, show them where to go to do what they want. Then, more people will convert, and fewer people will bounce.
5. Consider Using This Real Estate Agent Website Template
Knowing where to start when designing your real estate agent website can be a real pain.
Often, having a tried-and-true template to work from isn’t just easier but more cost-effective. Therefore, I will walk you through how our templates at Carrot flow.
You are, of course, welcome to design your website that follows a similar flow. Otherwise, we’d love to work with you.
When someone first lands on your website, they should see a quick explanation about what you do and why you’re awesome. At the top of every real estate agent Carrot website, we encourage putting words to those two things.
Then, we give you a place for featured properties so that people who want to look at houses easily can.
From there, the rest of the homepage should work to build credibility around your real estate business. This is why our Carrot members use testimonials…
And descriptions like this…
Put more, your homepage should flow similarly to this:
- Briefly tell people what you do and why you’re awesome.
- Give them a simple method for taking action.
- Explain in more detail why you’re awesome (testimonials).
- Finish with a CTA.
6. Streamline The Real Estate Lead Generation Process
Yes. Your website needs to convert.
But your website’s management system should allow you to streamline the lead generation and follow-up process easily. Here are two ways that you can make that happen.
Use Notifications
The back end of your website needs a system to send notifications when you generate a lead.
After all, the faster you follow up with prospects, the better.
Consider that salespeople who contact a prospect within one hour of generating the lead are seven times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with the prospect.
Sadly, only 37% of companies respond within an hour. This is probably why 8% of salespeople land 80% of the deals.
Don’t be in that 63%.
With notifications, you can follow up within the hour and give yourself the best chances of turning a lead into a deal.
The best real estate websites for lead generation leverage notification systems.
If you’re a Carrot member, you can go to your website dashboard, click “Forms” and then “SMS Notifications.”
Then click “Add New.”
Finally, select a form, enter your phone number, and choose which information you want the notification system to send you when you receive a new lead.
You don’t have to check your website for leads constantly. Instead, the software will notify you when you generate a lead, and you can contact them immediately.
Which means you have a better chance of landing the deal.
Create Genuinely Helpful Content
In the real estate world today, many people are putting out a lot of content.
But you don’t want to be another blind content machine. Instead, you want to create content that helps people make meaningful decisions.
Why?
Because creating genuinely helpful content builds rapport with the people who visit your website. If you help them, they’ll probably want to work with you when the time is right.
Remember, you’re trying to show your audience you know your stuff. But you don’t want to say so outright. You want to build a relationship with your audience and prove they can trust you by creating content that centers around their concerns.
Consider content like this, for instance.
It might sound counterintuitive, but the more you help your audience (genuinely), the more they’ll trust you and the more willing they will work with you in the future.
Your content needs to build a trusting relationship between yourself and your prospects. With that, you’ll generate more leads than you would otherwise.
7. Design A Real Estate Landing Page For Each Location
Here’s what you don’t want to happen. You don’t want people to navigate your website and leave because they don’t think you manage deals in a specific location… when you do.
Therefore, your website needs multiple landing pages to dominate the competition if you work in multiple locations.
Usually, when people search for real estate agents, they search based on their location, such as buying a house in Acworth, Georgia.
And if you want to rank on that page, you need a dedicated landing page for each city you operate in.
One location page might look like this:
This will help your SEO results — making your real estate website rank for high-commitment searches. But it will also ensure that when someone searches and finds your website, they won’t leave because they’re confused about where you help buy and sell houses.
At Carrot, we offer our customers an easy location landing page feature.
We allow our customers to quickly create multiple landing pages that look identical, except for the location they advertise.
This ensures that you never miss out on a lead for such a silly reason as not marketing the correct location to each prospect.
Conclusion
In reality, 20% of real estate agents do 80% of the business.
This also means that 80% of real estate agents do just 20% of the business.
You want to land in the former category. But to do that, you will need a website that drives leads, converts visitors, outranks the competition, loads quickly with IDX integration and has location-based landing pages.
At Carrot, we help thousands of investors and agents generate leads and build their businesses monthly.
And we love it.
If you want to focus on building your business and leave website design up to us, consider working with us.
If you want to design your website, the same rules apply. Use this as your guide to creating a website that ranks in Google, drives passive traffic, and generates leads.
What is the most important part of a website for real estate agents? Let us know in the comments!