10 Essential Features For Your Real Estate Website

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Experts believe that using online advertising to sell property can help you double or even triple your annual sales. Most agencies use property portals or classified sites to advertise their listings but the ultimate online marketing tool is a website. In this article we will look at key features that should be included in all property websites:

1. Easy-To-Use Enquiry and Contact Forms

You want to give potential buyers online enquiry forms to use when they are interested in a property. These forms are sent automatically to the agent?s inbox and inform the agent that someone is interested in a property. Contact forms are what visitors use should they want an agent to contact them regarding property for sale. It goes without saying that these forms need to be easy to access and simple. Don?t ask too much information so users can quickly fill in the enquiry and hit send.

2. Good Quality Images

Images are essential on a property site. Not only does this give the users an idea of what the property looks like, but in many cases it is the only element that the users view.

If the images are of poor quality, most users will click away without enquiring.

3. Search Capability

Property websites usually make use of a search function. This means that users can select the city, suburb, type of property and price range that they are looking for. You need to ensure that this search capability is easy-to-use and prominent so users can find what they are looking for.

4. Clear Navigation

Users need to get around your site quickly and simply without get lost in the information or encountering broken links. Make sure you can navigate to any page without having to click through to many links.

5. Area Info

When potential buyers are looking for property they often want information on the area they are buying into. This includes schools and other resources in the area, more about the area?s climate, the nearby attractions and even the history of the city/town. Make sure that the info your website displays is correct and updated it if necessary.

6. Contact Us Info

Users need to be able to contact you either by e-mail or by phone. You don?t want to miss out on a sale because you didn?t display your contact details on your site.

7. About Us Info

Use this section of your website to communicate your company or agency?s vision and mission and explain how you compare to your competition. You can also explain the history of your agency and introduce your team by publishing a photo and short description of all your agents including their experience and fields of expertise.

8. Appealing Design

It is very important to make your site look good. There are millions of property websites on the Web and design is what distinguishes you from other sites.

9. Mortgage Calculator

Visitors to your site need access to a mortgage calculator while they are browsing your site.

10. Regular Updates

Delete the properties that have been sold and update the prices, new area information, new additions to the team, images and mortgage calculators should it be necessary.

Online real estate marketing has taken off over the last decade and it is becoming a more and more competitive industry by the day, mostly because it?s a cost-effective way for real estate agents to give their listings maximum exposure. It is thus essential to keep ahead of the curve and to maintain a well-designed, easy-to-use real estate website.

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Elizabeth works for a online real estate portal called SAHometraders which specializes in advertising property for sale in all areas of South Africa including Wynberg property, Rondebosch property and property in Newlands in Cape Town.