Just as your real estate business is unique, your real estate website should also reflect your target audience. Your website should help tell your story — how you can help people buy or sell their homes, who you are, how you work, what your personality is, etc. These days, websites are often the first impression potential clients see of your business. And, a great website starts with a solid foundation.  

Keep reading to discover what makes the best real estate website that not only looks great but performs great as well.

How to Have the Best Real Estate Website

1. Prominent IDX Search on Home Page
2. Clear Navigation Bar
3. Calls to Action/Forms
4. Testimonials
5. High-quality Imagery

1. Prominent IDX search on the home page

The majority of people visiting your website are there to search for homes. And, having an integrated Internet Data Exchange, or integrated IDX, search front and center on your homepage makes it easier for users to search for homes and find the information they need to make an informed decision. An Integrated IDX creates pages that are able to be crawled by multiple search engines, which also gives your SEO a boost.

2. Clear navigation bar 

“How can I contact you?” is a question every website visitor wants to be answered when considering making a purchase or browsing services, especially in the real estate industry. Making it as easy as possible for people to contact your real estate business is one of the most sought-after features on a website – user experience is invaluable when it comes to site functionality. Website navigation best practices also suggest keeping the navigation as simple as possible while also still being user-friendly. Some other elements to include on your navigation bar are About Us, Services, Buying, Selling, and Property Listings.

3. Calls to actions/forms

The sole purpose of your website is to get more business, or at least it should be. Nothing promotes contact form submissions or phone calls better than simple calls to action, or CTAs. There should be CTAs throughout your website in your copy, content, and imagery.  

Driving users to your website is one thing, but actually getting them to reach out and contact you is another. By using prominent calls-to-action or CTAs, you can make it easier for users to get in touch with you or find the information they need to make informed decisions. There should be CTAs throughout your website such as buttons, banners, forms, links, pop-ups, and slide-ins, to name a few. For example, if you post a blog post on upcoming community events, you could include a CTA at the end of the post that reads, “Want to learn more about [community name]? Contact us today!” and a link to a contact form, email, or phone number.

4. Testimonials

Because the real estate industry is built on creating and nurturing relationships, displaying testimonials on your website is a great way to establish credibility. In fact, people are more inclined to believe other people’s reviews on a product or service than the company trying to sell itself. By incorporating testimonials on your website, you can give potential clients insight into who you are, what they can expect while working with you, how you can help them achieve their goals, etc.  

5. High-quality imagery 

The old sentiment that content is king remains especially true on your website. Your website should capture your viewer’s attention within seconds; a highly effective way to do this is with stunning imagery. Images are one of the first things people see and process on your site and in the real estate industry, images are definitely worth a thousand words (or more!) Keep in mind that the placement of the imagery is just as important as the imagery itself. For example, place a header video or image before the scroll. And, don’t forget to add alt-text to all of your images and keep the file size as small as possible without sacrificing quality to ensure your website loads quickly. 

Interested in a new real estate website? Connect with one of our strategists today to learn more about our custom designs and award-winning website solutions.