Website Marketing – The Close https://theclose.com Wed, 27 Apr 2022 14:58:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.3 https://theclose.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/theclosefbprofile2-60x60.png Website Marketing – The Close https://theclose.com 32 32 How to Build an IDX Real Estate Website in an Afternoon (2022) https://theclose.com/idx-real-estate-website/ https://theclose.com/idx-real-estate-website/#comments Tue, 26 Apr 2022 21:32:48 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=5895 Even with limited tech skills, you can learn to build a website with IDX listings, lead capture, map search, and more in an afternoon—without calling tech support.

The post How to Build an IDX Real Estate Website in an Afternoon (2022) appeared first on The Close.

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IDX real estate website builders like Real Geeks and Placester are best-in-class, but we still get tons of emails asking about DIY options. Lucky for you, building your own IDX real estate website is pretty easy these days—easy enough for an agent with limited tech skills to build a website with IDX listings, lead capture, map search, and more in an afternoon—without calling tech support. Trust me. It’s not as hard as you might think.

To prove it, we’ll walk you through the basics of IDX real estate websites and how to build your own. We’ll cover terminology, strategy, themes, IDX plugins, and step-by-step instructions to build your own IDX real estate website in just a few hours. Important note: This guide covers how to build an IDX website using WordPress. If you’d rather use a real estate website builder like Real Geeks, check out our guide here: The 6 Best Real Estate Website Builders of 2022.

What Is IDX?

IDX listings examples

IDX, short for Internet Data Exchange, is the technology that allows Realtors and brokerages to display updated real estate listings from their MLS on their websites. 

Here’s how it works: Multiple times per day, third-party IDX providers take the raw listing data from your MLS and send it to the hundreds (or thousands) of real estate websites that have permission to display MLS listings. Whenever a listing is updated in your MLS, it is automatically updated on all the websites that display MLS listings through IDX. In 2022, most IDX listings are updated every 15 minutes. 

What’s an IDX Website?

An IDX website is any website that receives an automatically updated feed of listings from your MLS through a third-party IDX provider. That means that an IDX website will have listings just as fresh as your MLS’ website.

Potential buyers will have a very similar experience browsing an IDX website for new listings as your MLS’ site since the listings are updated with data from the MLS automatically. 

While many IDX real estate websites are focused solely on listings, others are full agent or brokerage websites with landing pages, About Us pages, agent profiles, mortgage calculators, a blog, videos, and everything else an agent, team, or brokerage might have on their website.

Do I Need to Use WordPress to Build an IDX Real Estate Website?

Absolutely not. There are many ways to build an IDX website, including coding it yourself or using another content management system (CMS) like Joomla or Drupal. Some third-party IDX providers can even send listings to Squarespace sites.

That said, WordPress is far and away the most popular CMS system on the market and has the most tutorials, support, and updates. This is why we strongly recommend that agents and brokerages use WordPress for their IDX website. Of course, if any of this starts to give you a headache or you just want help from the pros, Placester will build a full IDX real estate websitefor you starting at just $64 per month.

I give up, take me to Placester

How to Build an IDX Website in an Afternoon

Now that you know the basics, let’s go through the best way to build an IDX real estate website with WordPress.

Step 1: The Planning Phase

Planning Phase of building an IDX website

The most important (and most often avoided) stage in building a website is sitting down and figuring out exactly what you want from your IDX real estate website. While this might seem obvious at first (leads!!), you’d be surprised at what you can forget until you’re halfway through building your site. This will also make it easier to pick the right WordPress theme (more on this later) and IDX provider (ditto).

So take 10 minutes and write out what you want from your IDX real estate website. Think of features you’ve seen on other sites, like map search, video backgrounds, blogs, sliders, lead capture, home valuation pages, pop-ups, and the general aesthetic you want for your site. What would you like to offer your site visitors that will turn them into leads?

You don’t need to go crazy here; you can (and should) update and upgrade your site many times over the next few years. So don’t feel pressured to include absolutely everything now. Just take a few minutes to outline the big stuff before you commit to anything.

Study the Websites of the REAL Trends 500 & Take Notes

Jade Mills website
(Source: Screenshot of Jade Mills’ website)

Before you dig in and invest the time and effort to build your own IDX website, take some time to research what it is you like about other real estate websites. To help speed up the process, we put together this comprehensive overview and ranking of the websites of the top 25 agents by volume for 2022 according to RealTrends (below).

What is it specifically about a top producer’s website that you like? Is it the overall look and feel, or something else? Does the site look great because they already had great branding they just plugged into a stock site, or is the overall design unique?

Navigation is another crucial element to consider. As you might imagine, most top producers’ websites have minimal navigation that leads visitors on a customer journey, so notice where and why you click on sites you like.

Related Article
Real Trends Top 25 Real Estate Agent Websites RANKED (+ Tips & Tools)

Step 2: Choose a Web Hosting Company & Domain Name

Before you even think about building a page for your website, you need to set up an account with a web hosting company. A web hosting company will provide a home for your website online and ensure it always loads quickly and reliably from any device.

For WordPress IDX websites, Bluehost is pretty hard to beat. Here’s why. First, at less than $3 per month, it is incredibly affordable, and second, it has a tool that lets you install WordPress with the click of a button. You also get five email addresses for you, your team, and maybe a few inside sales agents (ISAs), all for less than the price of a cup of coffee per month.

You can set up a quick account at Bluehost here and join us again later. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

Choose & Purchase Your Domain Name(s)

Luckily, choosing a great domain name is pretty straightforward. Just make sure it’s memorable, short enough to yell across a crowded restaurant, and ideally matches your name or personal brand. Unless you think you’re going to spend your entire career at your current brokerage, it’s probably best to avoid including your brokerage name in your domain name. After all, you’re an independent contractor, right? Be independent.

Generally speaking, .com is better than the alternatives, but if you have the perfect name, just can’t get the .com domain name you want, and no one else in your farm area is using it, then, by all means, go for another top-level domain (TLD) like .net, .bix, and so on.

Related Article
14 Expert Tips to Choose a Great Real Estate Domain Name (+ Name Generator)

Step 3: Install WordPress on Your New Domain

Now that you have a fresh new domain and web host, the next step to building an IDX website is to install WordPress. Since WordPress is open-source, it’s free to install and free to use. Not bad, right?

To install WordPress on your Bluehost account, log in to your Bluehost cPanel, click on the Website section, and then click on “Install WordPress.”

Bluehost login form

Next, click on “Marketplace” and find WordPress.

Bluehost Mojo Marketplace

Then click on Install.

Install WordPress

Next, you’ll be prompted to choose the domain name on which you want to install WordPress. Choose the domain name you purchased in the previous step, read through and accept the license and service agreements, and finally, click on “install now” to install WordPress on your site.

Congratulations! You now have your very own WordPress website ready to rock! Pretty easy, right?

WordPress default theme for 2019

Next, follow the prompts to connect to WordPress.com and create an account. Now that you have WordPress up and running on your web host, let’s move on to making your website look great and adding IDX so you can get MLS listings on your site.

Step 4: Choose Your Third-party IDX Plugin for WordPress

Third-party IDX Plugin for WordPress

Before you get started building your WordPress IDX site, you’re going to want to pick out your IDX plugin—or at least research some good options. Luckily, with only a few IDX providers to choose from, your decision will come down to price, features, and compatibility.

What Is an IDX Plugin?

In WordPress, plugins are small add-ons that you can use to change how your WordPress theme looks or behaves. An IDX plugin translates the raw listing data from your MLS into code that WordPress can turn into attractive listings for your website. IDX plugins can also provide features like listings search, map search, widgets, lead capture, and more.

How Much Do IDX Plugins Cost?

IDX is a pretty inexpensive plugin for your IDX website. Generally speaking, you’ll pay between $50 and $99 per month for an IDX plugin. Most IDX providers offer much more than just a simple connection between your MLS and your website, so the cost is well worth it.

How to Choose the Right IDX Plugin

Since there is a lot of competition in this space, and only a handful of providers, take a quick run through the features each provides and then sign up for the one that suits your needs best. Here are the four most popular IDX providers for WordPress, along with some information to help you choose the best one for your needs:

IDX Provider Comparison Table 2022

IDX ProviderPricing Free Trial? Setup Fee
Showcase IDX$59.95-$99.95 per month30-day free trialNo setup fee
iHomefinder$49.95-$129.95 per month30-day free trial $99-$499
IDX Broker$55-$140 per monthNo free trial $99
Flex MLS$499 per yearNo free trial No setup fee

Step 5: Choose & Install an IDX-ready WordPress Theme

pick and install a WordPress theme

Now it’s time to pick a WordPress theme that looks great, provides the features you want, and can work with your chosen IDX provider.

What Is a WordPress Theme?

A WordPress theme is a template or collection of templates that control how your WordPress site looks and acts for site visitors. If you’ve ever used a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Google Slides template, a WordPress theme is pretty similar except that it’s far more powerful. Themes also generally include many different templates for everything from pages, headers, fonts, colors, backgrounds, and even lead capture and other advanced features.

How Much Do Real Estate WordPress Themes Cost?

Unlike your IDX provider, you don’t have to pay a monthly fee for your WordPress theme. Instead, you can just buy them. Good themes can run from $20 to $99. However, since this is a one-time fee, I would highly recommend not skimping here to save a few bucks. An extra $20 or $30 spent on your theme can make a massive difference in the quality and user experience of your website.

How to Choose the Perfect WordPress Theme for Your IDX Real Estate Website

picking out a perfect WordPress theme for IDX website

Remember that back-of-the-napkin list of features and bells and whistles you want for your website? Well, here’s where it comes into play. Use the list of features you want to help you narrow down your choices when picking out a WordPress theme.

Here are a few critical (and not so critical) criteria to keep in mind when choosing a WordPress theme for your IDX real estate website:

1. Is It Compatible With Your IDX Plugins?

While most modern themes will be compatible with your chosen IDX plugin, it’s always a good idea to check.

2. Does It Offer Enough Customization Options?

One of the coolest features WordPress themes offer is templates with multiple page layouts and styles for different parts of your website. For example, a template might have four or more unique page designs just for the homepage, three for the About Us page, and three for the Contact Us page.

3. Which Plugins Come With the Theme?

While the vast majority of the plugins you’ll end up using for your IDX real estate website will be free apart from your IDX provider, it’s nice to get a bunch of useful plugins along with your theme. Visual Composer, Yoast, Mailchimp, Contact Form 7, and Slider Revolution are standard plugins commonly bundled with real estate WordPress themes.

4. Is It a Real Estate-specific Theme?

This one is less important than many people think. While real estate themes will commonly have agent pages, listings pages, and ways to set up listings, those listings will need to be manually added and will more than likely NOT work with your IDX provider. So don’t choose a theme based on whether or not it’s an actual estate-specific theme or not.

5. Check Out Reviews & Updates on Envato

Generally speaking, a great theme will have a good number of great reviews on the Envato market. It should also have a log of recent updates to ensure your site is always up to date.

Where to Buy Real Estate WordPress Themes

Here are a few places to check out and buy real estate WordPress themes.

Envato Market
Envato Market - web themes and templates

Elegant Themes
Elegant Themes website

Template Monster
Template Monster website

Once you’ve picked out a theme you like with the features you want that support your IDX plugin, buy it, and then download the ZIP files for the theme.

Step 6: Install Your New WordPress Theme

Next, you need to install your new theme into your WordPress account. Here’s how to install it:

First, log in to WordPress, and then click on “Appearance” in the left column of your WordPress dashboard. Then click on “Themes.”

You should see the default WordPress 2022 theme already installed here. This is what The Close’s “Themes” page on WordPress looks like. Note that since we have multiple themes installed, there are a few other themes here besides the default WordPress theme:

Install Your New WordPress Theme

To install your new theme, click on the “add new theme” button on the lower right side of the page. Then, navigate to the WordPress theme ZIP file you downloaded and install it.

Step 7: Install Your WordPress Plugins & IDX Plugin

Next, head back over to your WordPress dashboard and click on “plugins” on the left side menu, then click on “installed plugins” to check which plugins may have been installed with your new theme.

Installing new WordPress Plugins

Make a note of which plugins are already installed, then click on “add new.”

Search for WordPress plugins

Here you can search for and install any plugins that you want for your site.

A word of caution here: Since thousands of plugins are available for WordPress, it can be very tempting to load up on plugins. After all, more is better, right? Well, for WordPress, the opposite can be true. More plugins can = more problems.

Don’t worry; you’ll have plenty of time to find and experiment with plugins later on. This is half the fun of using WordPress. For now, here is a quick list of plugins you might want to consider that are useful for IDX real estate websites.


Yoast SEO (SEO Checker for Blog Articles)

Yoast SEO WordPress plugin

With over 5 million downloads, Yoast is the most popular (and arguably the best) search engine optimization (SEO) checker for WordPress. Yoast reads the blog posts you’ve created and checks them for SEO best practices like keyword count, keyword usage, readability, and more. There is a limited free version of the plugin and a premium version for $89. Unless you’re very serious about SEO, you should be OK with the free version.

Download the Yoast Plugin (free)

Related Article
Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide for 2022 (9 Steps to Better Ranking)

Akismet (Anti-spam Plugin)

Akismet WordPress Anti-spam Plugin

Akismet is a great anti-spam plugin for WordPress that protects against brute force attacks, and more importantly, spam in your blog’s comment section.

Download Akismet Anti-Spam (Free)


Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 plugin

Contact Form 7 is a simple and easy-to-use contact form plugin that lets you create and edit contact forms on your website. You can use it to create lead capture forms for landing pages or general contact forms on your website.

Download Contact Form 7 (Free)


Mailchimp (or Whatever Email Marketing Service You Use)

Mailchimp WordPress Plugin

Email marketing plugins allow you to use certain features of your email marketing software on your website. For example, you can include an email sign-up form right on your website to enroll site visitors to receive your drip campaigns.

Download Mailchimp (free-$17 per month)


Your IDX Plugin

IMPress for IDX Broker plugin

Depending on what IDX provider you chose, you may or may not be able to install the plugin via the WordPress plugin manager simply. You will more than likely already have instructions from your IDX provider, but if you don’t, give them a call.

Step 8: Start Customizing Your WordPress Theme

Building out your IDX website in WordPress

OK, now you have a pretty-looking website set up, but it’s filled with dummy copy and stock imagery. The next step to building out your IDX website is to customize how your theme looks and behaves.

Unfortunately, most of these customization options are going to vary depending on what theme you chose. Here are a few basic things you can change with any advanced WordPress theme to get you started.

Your Logo

Once you add your logo to your WordPress theme, it automatically shows up on multiple pages on your website, and at the top of any new page you create.

Your Site Navigation

Like your logo, your site navigation will show up on every page you want it to and will also show up automatically on every new page you create. Even better, since you edit your site navigation in a single place, the changes you make there also get changed on every page on your site.

Your Footer

The footer area of your site will generally have social media contact information, phone numbers, and a sitemap, which is a list of all the pages available on your site. Like your navigation, your footer is universal and will show up on every page and any new pages you create.

Widgets

Widgets are small pieces of code that let you drag-and-drop site features like search bars, listings by price range, email capture, navigation menus, recent articles, and many more onto any page of your website.

WordPress available widgets

Installing Demos

WordPress themes available layout demos

Most WordPress themes will come with multiple layouts called demos. Demos are fully finished design and layout variations available for your theme. Each one will make your website look very different. For example, the popular Houzez theme has 16 various demos with 16 unique layouts for your site.

Here’s a quick rundown of how to install a demo to change how your site looks. Go to your WordPress dashboard and click on “Tools,” then “Import.” Next, click on “WordPress” and navigate to the XML of the demo you want to install.

Change Hero Images, Slider Images, Logo & Contact Information

Once you’ve chosen a demo to install, you can start customizing it. You can change all of these site elements by going to your WordPress dashboard and clicking on “Appearance,” then “Customize.” Some themes might have different ways to customize site elements, so be sure to read the instructions that came with the theme.

Step 9: Start Building the Main Pages of Your Website

Building the main pages of your IDX website

Now we’re getting somewhere. At this point, you should have a site that looks like you want it to and has your logo, images, and contact information ready to go. Next, we’ll start building the pages of your site.

Before we start, you need to understand the difference between pages and posts. Pages are the main pages of your site that don’t change very often. Things like about us, contact us, for sale, for rent, blog, and so on could be pages on your site.

On the blog page, you will have posts. Posts are the individual articles that are on your blog. For the most part, once you have your pages built, you shouldn’t have to change them very often. You should be adding new blog posts as often as you can. WordPress treats pages and posts differently, and you can set different navigation, sidebars, and other features for each.





How to Use Your New IDX Real Estate Website to Get & Convert More Leads

Your website is the most powerful tool in your arsenal to both attract and convert leads. Even if you promote it all over your social media profiles, that’s still not going to be enough to get a decent flow of traffic to your new site.

In reality, you’re going to have to work hard to get people to visit your site and ideally leave you their contact information or reach out and call you. While we could write a book on all the ways to drive traffic to your site, just keep in mind that you now have a miniature Zillow with all the listings in your farm area. This is something that most people want to visit, so you’re really starting on second base.

Advertise New Listings on Facebook

Once you have your website with landing pages, it opens tons of new possibilities to advertise on Facebook. For example, you might advertise new or underpriced listings on Facebook and then send them to your search page or a landing page with your lead capture form on it.

Related Article
How to Create Real Estate Facebook Ads That Actually Generate Leads

Advertise Free Home Valuations on Facebook or Google

The best way to get seller leads on your own is to advertise free home valuations on Facebook or Google. You can then send the leads to your landing page with your lead capture form or sign up with a free automated home valuation service like Home Value Leads.

Advertise Free First-time Homebuyer E-books on Social Media

First-time homebuyers, especially millennials, are always looking for great educational content to help them navigate the homebuying process. To generate buyer leads, you can write an educational e-book or private blog post and then advertise it on social media. When buyers come to your page, they will be prompted to enter their contact information to download the content.

Related Article
5 Clever Real Estate Landing Pages That Convert Like Crazy

Over to You

What did you think of our guide on IDX real estate websites? Naturally, we had to leave a ton of information out—otherwise, this would have been longer than “War and Peace.” What are the topics that we missed that you think we need more coverage of? Let us know in the comments.

The post How to Build an IDX Real Estate Website in an Afternoon (2022) appeared first on The Close.

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9 Real Estate Agent Bio Examples We Love (+ Templates & Bio Generator) https://theclose.com/write-real-estate-agent-bio/ https://theclose.com/write-real-estate-agent-bio/#comments Wed, 13 Apr 2022 16:00:03 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=3439 A real estate agent bio is a crucial part of your marketing strategy and branding, so use our templates, bio generator, and buzzwords to spice up yours today!

The post 9 Real Estate Agent Bio Examples We Love (+ Templates & Bio Generator) appeared first on The Close.

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A real estate agent bio is a crucial part of your marketing strategy and professional branding. An effective real estate bio sums up who you are and your value proposition—telling buyers and sellers why they should want to work with you. A well-crafted real estate bio can mean the difference between a lost lead and a new client.

In this article, we offer a host of great tools to help you write a new bio, including our exclusive, mad-libs-style bio generator, three free real estate bio templates, nine bio examples that we love, plus a list of industry buzzwords to help spice up your writing. Use our exclusive real estate bio generator as a starting point.

The Close Exclusive Real Estate Agent Bio Generator

Fill in some important details below. Our Real Estate Agent Bio Generator will plug your input into one of our road-tested bio templates.

Your Generated Bio

, is a great place to live and work, which is why chose to call it home. With roots in , came to in . Real estate is a passion for , with a background in , it is easy to see why more than clients called for help buying and selling.

has been a part of the family for years and is passionate about helping clients take the next step in their homeownership journey. volunteers with and loves being a part of other community events.

When ​​isn’t in the office or volunteering, you’ll often find and enjoying time with friends and family.

Real Estate Bio Templates

Our three free real estate bio templates were designed exclusively for our readers. Download these templates or copy them to your clipboard to make them your own.

New Real Estate Agent Bio Template

This template is perfect for new real estate agents without a lot of experience to lean on. Focus on your community ties, your excitement, and your enthusiasm, and show your potential clients who you are.

Successful Real Estate Agent Bio Template

Your bio isn’t written in stone; you should revisit it at least once a year to see what sort of tweaks you can make to sharpen your message. Here’s a real estate bio template perfect for those of you who are coming off a very successful year and want to further that momentum.

Long-form Real Estate Agent Bio Template

Sometimes you’ve got a little more room to write, but that extra space can be intimidating. Here’s a good bio template for times when you have room to really express yourself.

Download Your Free Real Estate Agent Bio Templates

9 Real Estate Bios We Love

Before you dive headfirst into writing (or rewriting) your bio, take a look at these examples of real estate bios from rock star agents and brokers from around the country. Find ways to incorporate their savvy strategies into your new bio.








Want to Outsource Your Real Estate Bio Writing?

If writing a real estate bio is high on your to-do list but you can’t find the time, consider hiring a freelancer to do it for you. Fiverr is a resource of professional writers willing and able to put together a killer real estate bio for you—for a price as low as five bucks.

Find a Freelancer on Fiverr

Real Estate Bio Toolkit: 4 Tips to Write a Great Bio

Ready to start writing a compelling real estate agent bio? Before you put pen to paper, review these tips designed to help you craft an engaging bio that will connect with readers and convert leads into clients.

1. Your First Sentence Is Crucial

Inspirational speaker Matthew Ferrara has said that many people will make up their minds about you in the very first sentence of your bio. Don’t use that sentence to meander your way toward your message. Jump right into demonstrating your value and capture your reader’s attention early.

2. Bigger Is Not Better

A longer real estate agent bio does not make you seem more impressive. In fact, it makes it less likely someone will even read it at all. Studies show that 50% of readers won’t read more than a single screen worth of text on their phone. Keep your bio to less than 200 words and make them captivating.

3. Social Media Links Are a MUST

A great bio will make a reader say, “I’d like to learn more.” Include links to your social media to give them that opportunity. However, if you don’t regularly engage with your audience on social media, including social links in your bio can be detrimental. Remember to only link to platforms where you spend time online.

Related Article
5 Ways to Be the Most BORING Agent on Instagram (& How to Stop!)

4. Use Your Brokerage’s Clout to Build Your Own

Your brokerage has likely invested a lot of time and money in building its reputation in your community. You can leverage these investments to springboard your professional reputation—building on the good vibes they’ve already established. If their ideals run counter to your own, you’re likely at the wrong brokerage.

Spice Up Your Real Estate Agent Bio With These Buzzwords

Struggling with the perfect description for yourself and what you do? Here are some of our favorite buzzwords and descriptors:

AuthenticExemplaryPersistentSophisticated
CapableExperiencedPersuasiveSought-after
CaringFriendlyPrincipledSteadfast
ChicGenerousProductiveStrategic
Community-focusedGenuinePurposefulSupportive
ConsiderateGratefulQualifiedTech-savvy
ConsummateGroundedRefreshingTenacious
CreativeHappyRelentlessThorough
CredibleHelpfulReliableThoughtful
DecisiveHonestReputableTough
DependableIn the knowResoluteTrusted
Detail-orientedInnovativeResponsiveTrustworthy
DetailedLoyalSavvyUnderstanding
DeterminedMatureSeasonedUnfailing
DiscerningMeticulousSensibleUnshakeable
EmpatheticModernSincereUrban
EnergeticOutstandingSkilledWarm
EthicalPatientSkillfulWell-rounded
ExceptionalPerceptiveSmartWell-versed
Related Article
Real Estate Branding: How to Build Your Brand (+ Case Studies)

Bringing It All Together

Someone who has chosen to read your bio is clearly interested in you. They want to see if you’re a good fit both personally and professionally and get a sense of what it would be like to work with you. Why not give them what they’re looking for? 

If you’re authentic and let your personality shine through, your real estate agent bio may serve as the very first step toward a new client relationship that could last for years. Please share any questions you may have about writing an effective real estate agent bio in the comments section below!

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Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide for 2022 (9 Steps to Better Ranking) https://theclose.com/real-estate-seo/ https://theclose.com/real-estate-seo/#comments Sat, 02 Apr 2022 00:28:43 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=16207 If you do it right, real estate SEO and effective content marketing will reward you with a steady stream of FREE inbound leads from your website.

The post Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide for 2022 (9 Steps to Better Ranking) appeared first on The Close.

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One of the most common questions agents ask after building their websites is if real estate search engine optimization (SEO) is still an effective lead generation strategy. The answer may surprise you. While ranking your content on search engines is harder than it used to be, you can easily outrank your competition by investing some time and effort, using basic SEO strategies that most Realtors either don’t know or don’t bother with.

We put together this guide to help you get started. We’ve included nine real estate SEO strategies to help your content rank better in Google (and other) search results. We’ll also cover the most frequently asked questions and common SEO mistakes to avoid. Here’s what you’ll learn:

What Is Real Estate SEO?

Real estate SEO is the strategy real estate websites use to improve their ranking on search engines like Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and Bing. The higher your website ranks on a search engine, the more people will see it and hopefully click on it. This translates into more site visitors, and if your website is optimized for lead capture, more buyer and seller leads in your CRM.

Deep Dive: How Google & Other Search Engines Rank Content in 2022

In 2022, Google uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to decide which websites and pages rank on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP). Since Google wants to deliver the best and most relevant results, they continually tweak their AI to make sure the most helpful results rise to the top on the search engine results page.

Of course, publishing content that answers common questions that your target audience is asking on Google is not enough to rank well in 2022. After all, thousands of websites are likely to publish content similar to yours. As a result, Google also considers factors like the expertise of the person writing the content, the quality of the website, how easy the content is to read, among other factors. 

9 Steps to Perfect Real Estate SEO


Search engine results page

Now that you have a better idea of how search engines rank content, let’s dive into the nine steps to perfect real estate SEO.

1. Run an SEO Audit on Your Website

The first step to any SEO project is to audit your current website to see if there are any technical issues that might cause Google to rank your content lower or ignore it entirely. There are a few ways to do an SEO audit for your website. 

The easiest way to do an SEO audit is to hire someone from a site like Fiverr to run the audit for you. After they run the audit, they will send you a report that will go over any issues that might be holding your site back from ranking on search engines. Expect to pay around $50 for a site audit on Fiverr. Some SEO freelancers or companies will do this for free, but they will also try to upsell you to paid services without explaining the actual issues with your website. 

Here is a Fiver freelancer who runs SEO audits for $35 with a Zoom call to talk through issues that need to be fixed:

Visit Fiverr

If you’d rather DIY your SEO audit, you will need to invest in a few free and paid tools to do it. Here is a quick rundown of the tools you will need:

SEO Site Audit ToolWhat It’s Used ForPricing
SEMrush Site Audit ToolRuns detailed SEO audits for your website, tracks ranking on Google, competitor research$119.95 per month 
Google PageSpeed InsightsTests how fast pages on your site load on desktop and mobileFree
Google Search ConsoleDetermines if your site is indexed properly on GoogleFree

Here are a few issues to fix that an SEO audit might turn up: 

  • Meta descriptions
  • Image alt text
  • Image compression
  • Keyword usage
  • Heading structure (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
  • Duplicate content 
  • Broken links 
  • Security: HTTP vs HTTPS

While we don’t recommend it, if you want to run your own SEO audits in the future, you can use this in-depth guide from SEMrush to set up and run your audit.

2. Fix Issues Found in Your SEO Audit

After you have your audit, you can then start fixing any issues uncovered in the audit. These might be easy fixes, like deleting duplicate content or fixing broken links, or more complex issues like HTTP vs HTTPS. Fix what you can and hire out for the rest. 

One of the easiest improvements you can make on your website is to make it load faster. This is something anyone can do with Google’s free Page Speed Insight tool. Run the most popular pages of your website through the Google Page Speed Insights tool. If they load slowly, try removing or reducing the size of large images or infographics. You can also try removing WordPress plugins or IDX widgets from pages that load slowly. If all of your pages load slowly, you might need to upgrade your web hosting plan from a shared plan to a VPS or dedicated server. 

VPS (virtual private server) plans will run you around $20 per month and will offer significantly faster landing times than shared hosting. Dedicated hosting plans will run you around $100 per month and will offer significantly faster loading times than VPS plans. If your website gets a lot of traffic, you might want to consider dedicated hosting. If not, VPS hosting should do the trick.

3. Set Up Your Google My Business Account

After you’ve run your SEO audit and fixed any issues that came up, the next step is to claim your Google My Business account. Google My Business is Google’s tool for indexing local businesses for search on Google Maps. This is important in 2022 because Google Maps results are almost always at the top of search results pages (SERP) for searches related to real estate. For example, when I search “real estate agent” from New York City, Google puts a map of nearby real estate brokerages at the top of the SERP:

Google My Business account

If you want a chance of showing up here, you need to set up your Google My Business account. You can get started here: https://www.google.com/business/ 

While this won’t guarantee your site shows up at the top of the search results, if you don’t fill out your Google My Business profile, you will never show up!

4. Research Keywords You Want to Rank For

After you’ve completed your audit, fixed SEO issues, and set up your Google My Business profile, the next step is to research the keywords your local audience is searching for. Once you know what your audience is searching for, you can create content to address their questions and concerns. For example, if your audience is searching for “affordable condos in Miami,” you can write an article or create a video explaining how to find affordable condos in Miami. 

Use a Keyword Research Tool Like Ahrefs 

The best way to do keyword research is to use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs. Ahrefs isn’t free but is a worthwhile investment to help plan what content to write for your website. You can also hire a freelancer on a site like Fiverr or Upwork to do basic keyword research for you. Most freelancers will use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs to research keywords. 

Research SERP & ‘People Also Ask’ Results for Your Keywords

Once you have a list of keywords you want to target, research the SERP for each keyword to see what kind of content is ranking for those keywords. Are they articles or videos? How long are the articles? What kinds of websites are ranking for these keywords? What other content are they creating? What keywords do they seem to be targeting? Finally, how can you improve on the content currently ranking on the first page for your keywords?

📌   Pro Tip

Google’s “People Also Ask” section on SERPs can be a goldmine for content ideas. These are questions that Google’s algorithm thinks are related to the main keyword. Here are the “People also ask” results for the keyword “Condos in Miami”: Each one of these questions would make a great blog post.

People Also Ask

To learn more about keyword research, check out our in-depth guide.

Related Article
How to Use Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads From Google

5. Create a Content Cluster Strategy

Generally speaking, search engines rank content created by subject matter experts higher than content created by amateurs. For example, when people search for “best cancer treatments,” search engines will display results from top oncologists before your cousin Jeff who thinks crystals and herbs cure cancer. (Sorry, Jeff!) One of the ways that search engines determine your expertise in a subject area is by looking at how much content on the subject you have on your website, and how well organized that content is. 

This is where content clusters come in. Content clusters are groups of articles organized from top-level subjects like “condos in Miami” that then drill down to more specific related topics like “Condos in Brickell” or “How to qualify for a condo in Miami.” 

Pillar Content, Subpillar Content & Cluster Content

Creating content clusters is simple. Start by identifying your most general local keywords. These will be your “pillar pages.” Then organize more specific content related to that pillar page underneath the pillar page. Once you have your cluster mapped out, start writing the content for your pillar pages and planning to write content for your subpillars and cluster content. Once you write your subpillar and cluster content, link to them from your pillar page. 

Here’s what a cluster map might look like for an agent who sells condos in Miami:

Pillar content: Condos in Miami 

Links to: 

Subpillar content: Best neighborhoods to buy condos in Miami, How to get approved for a condo in Miami, Most affordable condos in Miami, Waterfront condos in Miami, etc. 

Links to: 
Cluster content: Condos in Brickell, Condos in Miami Beach, Condos in Coconut Grove, Brickell Neighborhood guide, etc.

6. Create Useful & Compelling Articles, Videos & Infographics

Now that you have a cluster strategy mapped out, the next step is to create the content for your website.

Create Pillar Content First 

Start by creating your pillar content. Your pillar content should address general topics that you will expand on in your cluster content.

For example, a pillar page about condos in Miami should be a high-level overview of buying condos in Miami. Try to think of questions your audience might have about buying a condo in Miami and answer them in your article. Answers that require more detail will be addressed in your cluster content, so a general overview will be fine for your cluster content. What are the general price ranges by neighborhood for condos in Miami? How competitive is the market? What should buyers look out for? What should sellers be aware of?

Related Article
80 Viral Real Estate Blog Ideas for 2022 (+ Examples & Expert Tips)

How Long Should Your Content Be? 

There is no hard and fast rule for how long your content needs to be to rank on Google, but studies show longer content tends to outrank shorter content. Research from HubSpot showed that the best-ranking articles on Google were over 2,000 words. Just do your best to answer the questions you think your audience will have about the topic and remember to address more specific answers in your subpillar and cluster content.

Article vs Video Content 

While articles usually rank better than videos, for some keywords at least, videos will outrank articles. This is why researching SERPs before you start writing content is so important. If a SERP for a keyword you want to rank for has videos ranking at the top of the page, then making a video for that keyword is a no-brainer.

The best approach is to embed a video in an article. For example, after you finish writing your pillar content for “condos in Miami,” record and embed a quick YouTube video summarizing the content.

Related Article
21 Real Estate Videos Top Agents Use To Generate & Nurture Leads

Use SEO Best Practices as You Write 

Always use SEO best practices for creating content for your website. These include using structured headings like H1, H2, H3, or numbered lists, using keywords in the first paragraph of your articles, writing in simple, direct language, and focusing on answering readers’ questions in the most direct way possible. Getting creative with your writing can be tempting, but for most articles, a bare-bones “just the facts” approach will work better. People are busy! They just want to learn what you have to teach them as quickly as possible.

If you’re using WordPress, a free SEO plugin like Yoast will make following SEO best practices much easier.

7. Work on Getting Backlinks to Your Content 

Another way search engines decide where to rank your content is by the number and quality of other websites that link to your homepage or directly to your blog posts. This is why getting other sites to link to your website is crucial for SEO. 

Link Quality Counts More Than Quantity 

Generally speaking, quality counts for more than quantity when it comes to links to your website. For example, a link from a well-respected site like the New York Times might be worth 100 (or more!) links from smaller websites. It’s not easy, but putting in the work to get high-quality links to your website will have an unbeatable return on investment (ROI) for SEO. 

Links from websites that are related to your pillar content are also more valuable for ranking than more general sites. For example, if you’re writing about condos in Miami, then a link from the Miami Herald might be more valuable than a link from the New York Post. Since you are writing about real estate, a link from Realtor Magazine or NAR would be even more valuable. 

Link-building Strategies 

One of the best ways to get links from high-quality websites in 2022 is to use HARO. HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a website where journalists submit questions when they need expert quotes for articles they are working on. Getting quoted as a real estate expert along with a link to your site is actually much easier than you might think. Journalists are almost always on tight deadlines, which means they sometimes scramble at the last minute to get good quotes from experts. 

To get backlinks from HARO, subscribe to their email and pitch journalists when they need quotes from real estate experts. If they accept your pitch, ask them to link to your website. Easy, right? The key is to respond to journalists’ quote requests as soon as they get posted. This will greatly increase your odds of getting your quote accepted. 

To learn more about getting links from HARO and other sources, check out our in-depth guide to strategic PR below.

Related Article
5 PR Strategies Any Agent Can Use to Get Free Press in 2022

8. Update Your Best Performing Articles on a Schedule

Since your local real estate market can change from quarter to quarter or even month to month, search engines generally rank up-to-date content higher. So once you have your content written, create an update calendar to make sure that content stays fresh. 

For pillar pages, you should schedule updates at least once per quarter. For subpillar and cluster content, you can get away with updating once or twice per year. When updating your articles, spend a few minutes researching what changed since your last update, and then address those changes in your article. 

9. Regularly Audit Your Website for SEO Issues 

Even if your content is ranking well, you still need to regularly audit your website to look for any issues that might affect your rankings. For example, articles or videos you link to might change their URLs, leaving you with dead links, or your articles might start to load slowly if you install a new plugin. Scheduling yearly or quarterly SEO audits can find these issues before they start to affect your ranking. 

How Much Does SEO Cost?

Like most great lead generation strategies, real estate SEO can be done for free. Writing great content that puts the reader first might take up a lot of your time, but there are no real upfront costs. 

That said, if you are serious about using SEO as a lead generation strategy, investing in some basic tools or hiring freelancers will be a huge help. Here is a quick rundown of some SEO tools and services you might want to consider as your rankings grow: 

DIY SEO Tools 2022: Recommendations & Pricing

Type of SEO ToolOur PickCost per Month
Keyword Research ToolAhrefs$90 per month 
Upgraded Web HostingBluehost VPS$20+ per month
WordPress SEO PluginYoastFree

Hiring SEO Freelancers 

Since ranking your website on search engines can take years of hard work, you might be tempted to skip the line and just hire a freelancer to do SEO for you. Having hired many SEO freelancers in the past, this is not something we recommend for individual Realtors. Like any good freelancer, good SEO freelancers can be extremely expensive. The best SEO freelancers charge $5,000+ per month! Beware the “affordable” SEO freelancers. Some use dishonest tactics that might help you rank on Google for a week or so, but can also result in your site getting blacklisted from Google’s search results. 

That said, there are many SEO tasks that you can and should outsource to freelancers on a site like Upwork or Fivver. Here are a few tasks that you can safely outsource as the need arises: 

  • Keyword research 
  • Google My Business profiles
  • Article editing 
  • Reducing image sizes 
  • Submitting your pitches to HARO 
  • Basic link-building outreach

Visit Fiverr

How Long Does It Take to See Results?

This is kind of like asking, “How long will it take until I can speak French?” You might see some results right away, while others can take years. There are two basic factors that determine how quickly you will see results from your SEO efforts:

1. How Competitive the Keywords You Are Targeting Are

The first criteria is how competitive the keywords you’re targeting are. For example, if you’re trying to rank for “Beverly Hills Mansions for sale,” your chances of seeing results right away (or at all!) are very, very low. This is because there are many real estate portals like Zillow and well-established real estate brokerages that also want to rank number one for those keywords. Your chances of outranking Zillow or Compass for these keywords is virtually zero. These companies spend millions of dollars to rank their content on search engines.

However, if you’re trying to rank for “best neighborhoods in Elmira New York,” you will see results much faster since you will have much less competition on the SERP.

2. The Quality of Your Content, Website & Backlink Profile

The second criteria that determines how quickly you will see results is the quality of your content, website, and backlink profile. Let’s tackle those one by one: 

  • Your content: If your content does not offer useful information related to the topics people are searching for, you might never see results.
  • Your website: Even if you have great content, if your website loads slowly, is not optimized for mobile, or uses complicated code, you will have a hard time ranking.
  • Your backlink profile: Part of the way Google and other search engines judge the quality of your content is by looking at how many other websites link to it. More high-quality links = better chances of ranking highly. 

Bottom Line: Is SEO Good for Realtors? 

As long as you’re willing to put in the time and effort to audit your website, research keywords, create content clusters, and produce great content, then SEO can be an effective way to generate leads and raise brand awareness with your website.

The post Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide for 2022 (9 Steps to Better Ranking) appeared first on The Close.

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80 Viral Real Estate Blog Ideas for 2022 (+ Examples & Expert Tips) https://theclose.com/real-estate-blog-ideas/ https://theclose.com/real-estate-blog-ideas/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2022 22:03:27 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=12653 Even in this age of social media, a real estate blog is still one of the best ways Realtors can show off their expertise to potential clients.

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Even in this age of social media, a real estate blog is still one of the best ways Realtors can show off their expertise to potential clients. Coming up with great blog topics can be challenging, which is why I’m giving you my top 80 real estate blog ideas (with live examples) that you can write about on your website. I’ll also share some crucial tips and tricks I’ve learned as a professional writer and editor to ensure your audience will click on and read your articles.

80 Viral Real Estate Blog Ideas

1. Home Renovations That Offer the Best ROI for Resale

Example title: 7 Home Renovations That Will Get You an ROI at the Closing Table

Here’s a real estate blog idea that most homeowners thinking of selling will find irresistible. After all, renovating their older home will cost them tons of money, and most homeowners don’t have a clue if they will ever get any of that money back at the closing table.

2. Before & After Renovation Examples

Example title: Before & After: This Humble Bungalow in ______ Was Transformed Into a Luxe Retreat

People love Cinderella stories, so writing about local homes transformed by tasteful renovations is a great way to get readers hooked on your blog. The more specific you can get here, the better. Check sites like Curbed for examples of local renovations and see if you can get a quick comment from the homeowner, architect, or interior designer.

3. How to Fix & Flip Homes

Example title: How to Fix & Flip Homes in __________

With the popularity of real estate reality TV shows growing every day, writing blog posts that educate your audience on investing is a great way to increase traffic and conversions. If you’re serious about working with new investors, writing an in-depth e-book explaining the fix-and-flip process in detail would make a great lead magnet.

4. Home Staging Mistakes to Avoid

Example title: 7 Embarrassing Home Staging Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Home’s Value

Home staging mistakes is a fantastic blog idea because it’s something every homeowner thinks they can do independently. The reality, of course, is that home staging can be difficult and expensive. Something most homeowners don’t realize until they actually try to stage their own FSBO!

5. Highlight Successful Women in Real Estate

Example title: 7 Women Who Are Changing the Way _________ Real Estate Sells

According to one study, women make the decision of which home to purchase 91% of the time. That means celebrating women’s role in the real estate industry is not just a nice thing to do, but a savvy marketing decision. A blog post highlighting women’s achievements in your local market is a great way to do just that.

6. Real Estate Negotiation Tips

Example title: 5 Negotiation Secrets Smart Buyers Use to Get Better Deals

Since most buyers or sellers have minimal experience in negotiating, offering them a peek inside the process of negotiating a deal can make a great blog post. If you really want to wow them with your skills, try using actual examples from your career.

📌   Pro Tip

If you’re really strapped for time or suffering from a case of writer’s block, consider hiring a professional marketing company like Artur’In to write your blog posts for you. You’ll end up with blogs your audience will love & you’ll have more time to do what you do best: sell houses!

Visit Artur’In

7. How to Choose a Mortgage or Hard Money Lender

Example title: 7 Tricks to Choosing the Right Mortgage Lender in ________

Since the mortgage process is still intimidating for most new buyers, a guide on choosing a mortgage lender will be a welcome topic for new buyers reading your blog. If you’re targeting investors or even would-be investors, a guide to picking a suitable hard money lender can also work.

8. An Overview of Virtual Staging Software

Example title: How Virtual Staging Software Can Drive Traffic to Your Home

This one falls into the “seems easy until you try it” category for homeowners. Virtual staging looks like magic, but once they try to do it, they will realize that hiring a professional like you to market their home might be a better investment. 

9. Tongue-in-Cheek ‘Behind the Scenes’ Posts

Example title: 12 Common Lies Realtors Tell New Buyers in _________

Since Realtors still have a reputation for dishonesty, pulling back the curtain and dishing on what really goes on in the industry is a great way to disarm your site visitors. Just remember to keep it PG, and don’t accuse any fellow agents or brokerages by name.

10. Open House Food Ideas

Example title: 17 Open House Food Ideas to Make Your Open House a Success

Another subtle way to show off your marketing skills, writing up a short article on popular open house food ideas is a great way to impress homeowners.

11. A List Post or Explainer Article on Dual Agency

Example title: 7 Reasons Dual Agency Can Be a Mistake in _________

Dual agency is one of those real estate topics that seems easy to understand at first but gets more complicated as you dig in. That makes it a perfect blog post to show off your sales expertise. Just make sure to be clear about the complexities of dual agency. List the pros and cons honestly.

12. A 101-Level Crash Course in Real Estate Investing

Example title: Investing in ______ Real Estate 101

Since everyone wants to make a great investment, a crash course in real estate investing is a great idea for a blog post. You can explain some common industry terms and investment strategies and then discuss which one works best in your farm area.

13. A Guide to Evaluating & Purchasing Rental Properties

Example title: 8 Tips for Buying Rental Properties in _________

Since the real estate investment niche is red-hot these days, an expert guide to purchasing a rental property in your farm area can get you clicks and conversions on your blog. If you’re not an expert in rental property, work with your broker or a local investor to write this one.

14. Questions to Ask When Hiring a Real Estate Agent

Example title: 7 Questions to Ask When Interviewing a New Realtor

Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell someone which questions you want them to ask you in an interview? Well, if you write this blog post, you can! You can use this post to educate buyers on what to look for in a Realtor, and also subtlety play up your strong suit. For example, if you have a lot of local experience, spend more time telling them why this is so important in your post.

15. Home Staging Tips & Tricks to Sell Faster

Example title: 7 Interior Paint Colors That Will Help Your Home Sell Quicker

If you’re working in a relatively upscale neighborhood, then chances are your homeowners will look at beautifully staged local listings and start to get intimidated. How will their home compete with these beautiful spaces online?

The trick with this blog post idea is to make sure to interview (or research) experts who actually know a thing or two about interior design and how it might affect their listing. Again, just be careful about making any promises here. Avoid saying things like “this paint color WILL increase your listing price” and instead say something like, “One study showed this paint color helped XX homes sell faster.”

16. In-depth Neighborhood Guides for Relocation Buyers

Example title: An In-depth Guide to [Neighborhood] for New Homeowners

While ranking on Google for neighborhood guides will be extremely difficult in many cities, in-depth neighborhood guides make excellent lead magnets, e-books, or social media content. The trick here is to go deep. Most agents will write fluffy overviews, if anything, so make sure to get into the nitty-gritty of what moving to your neighborhood will be like.

17. Hyper-local New Homebuyer’s Guide

Example title: A New Homebuyer’s Guide to Moving to [Your Farm Area]

Are you working with new buyers? If not, you’re missing out. Many first-time buyers these days have excellent income and credit, and all they really need is someone to walk them through the transaction. If you get it right, you could have an evangelist for life.

18. Monthly or Quarterly Aggregated Market Reports

Example title: Aggregated Market Report for [Your Farm Area, Month Year]

While most agents post some kind of market report on their blogs, most are pretty thin and not actually useful for their readers. If you want to stand out, then take the time and effort to make your monthly or quarterly local market reports as in-depth and nerdy as you can manage.

19. Local Listing(s) of the Week

Example title: 3 Drop-dead, Gorgeous, Mid-century Modern Homes in [Your Farm Area]

This is a fun one and can help you build relationships with local listing agents. Try to choose three to five listings every week that might fit a specific theme your audience will like for more impact. For example, if you’re working in Miami, waterfront listings would be fun to write about. If you’re working in Manhattan, then you can’t go wrong writing about penthouses.

20. A Property Marketing Case Study

Example title: Case Study: How 3 [Your Farm Area] Luxury Homes Sold 20% Over Asking

This blog post requires a little more research and, of course, access to data and assets such as before-and-after images. But if you either have a few listings under your belt where marketing made the difference, or know an agent who does, then this is a great post to show off your marketing knowledge to your readers.

21. How Economic News Affects Your Farm Area

Example title: What the [Latest Economic News] Means for [Your Farm Area] Homeowners

While your wealthy clients might read the Wall Street Journal every morning, most of the economic news won’t be directly relevant to their real estate portfolio. That’s why taking that news and contextualizing it for them is another excellent way to use your blog to offer something of value for your audience.

22. A Guide to Local Architectural Styles

Example title: A Cheat Sheet to the Architectural Styles of _________

When people start thinking about buying or selling a home, they generally go into education mode. Learning about local architectural styles is a great way to get them to click on your posts on social media.

23. An Interview With a Lawyer on Common Local Legal Issues

Example title: A Lawyer Explains the Legal Issues of Accessory Dwelling Units

Real estate lawyers also want to show off their local expertise to your audience because your leads might potentially be their leads too. Are you starting to notice a trend here with interview articles? If you’re just jumping in on this article idea, then here’s a quick recap: Interviewing local experts can help build relationships that lead to referrals down the road.

24. A Guide to Local HOA Covenants

Example title: 15 Common HOA Covenants & What They Really Mean

If you want to get confused (and angry), ask someone what they think about their homeowners association (HOA). For most people, HOAs are right up there with the IRS when it comes to confusing and potentially expensive adversaries. That’s why a friendly explainer piece on HOA covenants can help new homeowners or anyone who never lived under their rules feel a little more comfortable about them.

25. An Explainer on What Listing Agents Do

Example title: 12 Hidden Ways Listing Agents Help _______ Homeowners Sell Faster & for More Money

Justifying your own job might seem a little desperate, but if you focus on the positive and talk about some uncommon but essential ways you can help them, you just might end up with a popular blog post.

26. Affordable Curb Appeal Ideas for Your Local Market

Example title: 11 Affordable Curb Appeal Ideas for [Your Farm Area] Homes

Curb appeal is one of those things that most homeowners don’t quite understand. They THINK they do, but when it comes down to pulling out their credit card or rolling up their sleeves, they will inevitably head to Google. Or if you have a well-written article, your blog.

27. A Guide to Up & Coming Micro-neighborhoods

Example title: 3 Neighborhoods in ________ Set to Take Off in 2022

While every agent in your farm area is probably writing about the hot new neighborhood, writing about smaller micro-neighborhoods with appealing qualities is a great way to show off your local market knowledge.

More Real Estate Blog Ideas…

28. Common questions sellers ask
29. Common questions buyers ask
30. Common questions relocation clients ask
31. A guide to buying foreclosures
32. Why hiring an agent is important
33. A guide to iBuyers
34. Why Zillow Zestimates are not accurate
35. The perils of for sale by owner
36. Weekly starter home wrap-up post
37. Interview a local developer
38. Interview a local mortgage broker
39. Interview a local daycare owner
40. Interview a local home inspector
41. Monthly wrap-up of major sales
42. A guide to the best coffee shops in XX
43. A guide to your favorite restaurants in XX
44. A guide to local parks
45. A guide to local school districts
46. A guide to local dog runs
47. Renting vs buying
48. Overview of the closing process
49. Tips for getting offers accepted
50. Fun historical facts about your farm area
51. When to refinance
52. How to get prequalified for a mortgage
53. Weekly wrap up of luxury listings
54. News about new developments
55. Local politics and how it might affect your farm area
56. Best colors to paint a home to sell faster
57. What to do with pets when showing your home
58. Tips for a successful open house
59. Gardening and landscaping tips
60. How to save money on heating or cooling bills
61. How to winterize a home
62. Yearly maintenance schedule
63. Zoning laws for additions or renovations
64. Highlight local artists
65. Highlight local art galleries
66. Highlight a local photographer
67. Tips for packing for a move
68. Tips for hiring a long distance mover
69. Tips for hiring a contractor
70. Tips for hiring painters
71. Tips for hiring a landscaper
72. Moving checklist
73. Prelisting checklist
74. Closing checklist
75. Guide to local wildlife
76. Guide to local attractions
77. Guide to local beaches
78. Guide to local hiking trails
79. Rank the best supermarkets
80. Rank the best bakeries

Related Article
24 Must-Read Real Estate Blogs That Will Make You a Better Agent in 2022

7 Expert Real Estate Blogging Tips & Resources

Now that you’re (hopefully) inspired to start blogging, here are some insider tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years that will help you get more page views.

Page Views stats

1. Write 3 Different Versions of Your Headline & Pick the Best One

The headline is by far the most important element of your blog post. It’s the first and sometimes only thing your audience will see before they decide to click on it and read it. So take the time to learn how to write headlines that get clicks. Here are some simple formulas you can use.

Related Article
7 Real Estate Copywriting Rules Professional Writers Swear by

2. Use H2 Headings to Break Up Your Posts Into Bite-sized Chunks

Since your readers are busy, do them a favor and break up your blog posts into bite-sized chunks using H2 subheadings. Most people are going to skim your posts anyway. Make it easy for them. Using H2, H3, and H4 subheadings is also a best practice for real estate SEO.

Related Article
Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide for 2022 (9 Steps to Better Ranking)

3. Include Links to Other Related Blog Posts

This will not only help your reader quickly get to related posts, but will help Google crawl your site and might help you rank better.

4. Do Keyword Research to Find Out What Your Audience Is Searching for on Google

If you want a chance of ranking your blog posts on Google, you need to research what keywords your audience is searching for. You can start by checking out some other successful real estate blogs in your farm area. Which articles do you think are most helpful for buyers and sellers? If you want to get serious and do professional keyword research, check out our in-depth guide below.

Related Article
How to Use Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads From Google

5. Use Descriptive Language & Write Short Sentences & Paragraphs

Long paragraphs are like homework, and you have about 10 seconds to capture your reader’s attention before they click back over to Facebook. Worse, they take forever to scroll through on mobile.

Related Article
723 Descriptive Real Estate Words Top Listing Agents Use to Sell Homes

6. Read Your Writing Out Loud Before Hitting Publish

Editing your own writing can be tricky, but one way to make it easier is to read your entire post out loud and see if you stumble. If you can read through it without stumbling, then chances are so will your readers.

7. Always Put the Reader First

Always put your reader first. Make sure to focus on their needs and experience rather than search engine optimization (SEO), selling, trying to sound clever, or anything else. Always remember your blog is for your readers, not to stroke your ego!

Over to You

Have a great real estate blog idea that we forgot? Let us know in the comments or join us on our Facebook Mastermind Group here.

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The 6 Best Real Estate Website Builders of 2022 https://theclose.com/best-real-estate-website-builders/ https://theclose.com/best-real-estate-website-builders/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2022 17:25:34 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=8548 We’ve researched the best real estate website builders for every agent, brokerage, and team and compiled this guide to help you choose.

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Your real estate website is the engine of your business, driving lead generation and converting prospects into clients. That’s why we’ve researched dozens of companies to find the best real estate website builders in the market today.

Without a high-performing real estate website, you’re leaving money on the table and missing opportunities to grow your business. Check out our six favorite providers to help you launch beautifully designed, functional, high-performing real estate websites for agents, teams, and brokerages.

Best Real Estate Website Builders for 2022

Real Estate Website BuilderBest For
Placester (Best Overall)Agents seeking a real estate-specific website builder with built-in lead generation tools
PropertybaseAgents looking for a great real estate website + CRM combo
IDX BrokerAgents who want advanced tools to help their prospects navigate their home search
InComBudget-conscious agents also looking for marketing and advertising solutions
BoomTownBrokers or real estate teams
SquarespaceReal estate professionals seeking intuitive design and a wide array of 100+ templates to choose from

How We Chose Our Best Real Estate Website Builders of 2022

While there are other important considerations, we used the following elements as criteria for inclusion on our list of the best real estate website builders available today: 

  • Price
  • Templates and customization options
  • IDX capability
  • Lead capture options
  • Built-in CRM (or easy connection capability)
  • Customer support

For this list, we graded each of our chosen providers based on these criteria. How did they measure up? Check out our product reviews below.

1. Best Overall Real Estate Website Builder: Placester

Placester Logo

Placester offers a balanced real estate website builder experience with a great price point and tons of features—making them an easy choice as leader of the pack.

Placester offers a discount to National Association of Realtors (NAR) members, and they’re the only provider on our list in partnership with NAR. These savings make their already affordable solution an even better value for cash-strapped agents and teams.

Placester Pricing

Placester’s pricing model depends on two factors: whether you’re a National Association of Realtors member and which package you choose. Their Starter Plan starts at just $64 per month for NAR members.

Here’s a breakdown of their pricing and what Placester offers at each tier of service.

Placester Pricing at a Glance—January 2022

Placester Package Options
NAR Members
Non-NAR Members
Starter Plan
$64 / month
$100 / month
Advanced Plan
$120 / month
$190/ month
Office Builder Plan
$240 / month
$240 / month

NAR membership has its benefits, especially when you’re building a real estate website. The prices listed above are for Realtors who opt for an annual commitment. If you go with this plan, Placester also waives your one-time setup fee.

Placester offers some a la carte add-ons that further enhance the platform’s value. For example, their Open House Pro Premium app is a fantastic, tablet-based service that provides more than just a digital sign-in option for your open house attendees.

Related Article
Placester Review + Video: Is It Really the Best Real Estate Website Builder?

The app syncs with your customer relationship management (CRM) software. All event attendees are automatically added to your database, giving you the ability to create customized marketing messages for each event you host.

For real estate professionals with a website they’re not happy with, Placester offers customized data migration services, allowing you to migrate all your hard work put in on another platform to the Placester platform.

Here’s a breakdown of the cost for each of those Placester add-on features.

Add-on
Price
Open House Pro Premium
$20 / month
Data Migration Services
Prices vary







Examples of Placester Real Estate Websites for Agents

Placester: The Bottom Line

Placester is a superior product for anyone looking to build a real estate-specific website. Placester knows what’s important to Realtors and has put those features front and center. Plus, their affiliation with the National Association of Realtors makes them a provider that Realtors can trust.

Check out Placester

2. Best Website + CRM Combo: Propertybase

Propertybase Logo

Propertybase provides real estate professionals with a fantastic, all-in-one solution for client acquisition and nurturing with their lead generation, website, and CRM components all working together. Their websites are clean, customizable, and trusted by some of our industry’s most prestigious companies.

The Propertybase CRM is second to none as far as capabilities to keep your leads moving down the sales funnel.

Propertybase Pricing

Propertybase offers two different tracks for those seeking a real estate website. The first track is called Propertybase GO, and it’s designed for single agents, teams, and brokerages. The starting price for Propertybase GO includes the website and the highly regarded Propertybase GO CRM for $349 a month, with a one-year commitment.

We did an in-depth review of Propertybase GO if you want to learn more.

The second track, called Propertybase Salesforce Edition, is designed to be an enterprise solution for users across large organizations. Prices for this product vary case by case. Check out our Propertybase Salesforce Edition review for more information.








Examples of Propertybase Real Estate Websites for Agents & Brokerages

Propertybase: The Bottom Line

Propertybase provides a customizable website with lots of great lead capture options, as well as the best CRM in the real estate industry. If you are looking for a powerful new way to grease the sides of your lead funnel and create more prospect conversations, you should check out Propertybase.

Check out Propertybase

3. Best Real Estate Website Builder for Agents Who Want Advanced Home Search Tools: IDX Broker

IDX Broker logo

If you’re an agent looking for more control over your website visitor’s experience, IDX Broker is a great option. Loaded with all the options you’d expect to find in a real estate website provider, IDX Broker delivers on the must-haves for your real estate website while also providing ultimate flexibility.

With the ability to customize how aggressive your lead capture strategies are, you’re in charge of your visitor’s journey. You can allow site visitors to create accounts using popular social media logins, and even customize their user interface. They get to choose how they experience your site, and that information gets fed into your CRM for you to leverage later on.

It’s important to remember that IDX Broker is built on the WordPress platform, so you need to have some WordPress knowledge (or hire someone who does) to take advantage of what is being offered here.

IDX Broker Pricing

Pricing on IDX is complicated, but once you’re on their website, it makes sense. Pricing is divided into three tiers:

  • Lite (starting at $50 per month)
  • Platinum (starting at $80 per month)
  • Home (starting at $150 per month)

After you’ve selected your tier, you have options for plans best suited for a single agent, a real estate team, or an entire office.

Each option within each tier offers an increasing number of features, but all the fundamentals are a part of every package—complete with all the lead capture options, search functionality, and so forth—plus a nice back-end CRM.




Though the Lite tier does offer lots of value, most agents are going to find the Platinum tier to be the place they should start looking.

At Platinum, agents unlock features like automatic market reports, upgrade support and service, advanced map and polygon searching, home valuation tools, and more.

With the Home Tier, you get a WordPress website developed and maintained in-house by IDX Broker, rather than having to work with your own developer to build one with you. Basically, you take all the best parts of IDX Broker and add concierge-level support to it.








Examples of IDX Broker Real Estate Websites for Agents & Brokerages

IDX Broker: The Bottom Line

If you want ultimate control over your website and your user experience, IDX Broker is definitely a provider to consider. Visit them today to see which tier, plan, and options are best for your business.

Visit REDX

4. Best Website Builder for Budget-conscious Agents Looking for Premium Marketing Features: InCom

InCom logo

InCom provides attractive websites for real estate agents that do everything you need them to do. They provide a place for people to search for listed property, give prospects an easy way to contact you, and provide a platform for them to consume your content online.

But the extras that InCom offers really set it apart from the rest of the providers on our list. These include a makeshift CRM, integration with social media platforms to make lead generation easier, and real estate-specific landing pages that will convert your incoming lead traffic better than a generic website landing page.

InCom Pricing

InCom pricing starts at just $39.95 a month for an annual plan, plus a one-time setup fee of $250. InCom’s pricing is very competitive, and unlike real estate-specific competitor Placester, nearly all the essential features of the platform are included in their monthly or annual rate.

InCom Pricing at a Glance—January 2022

InCom Offers
Price
IDX Website With Unlimited Content, Access to 6 Standard Templates
$44.95 / month (annually) or $49.95 / month (monthly)
Access to Additional Premium Templates
$4.95 / month
One-time Setup Fee
$250
Google Ad Words Management
$100 / month
Facebook Ads Management
$100 / month
ReCall Marketing - Silver Package
$45 / month + $125 setup fee
ReCall Marketing - Gold Package
$175 / month + $125 setup fee
ReCall Marketing - Platinum Package
$300 / month + $125 setup fee

All the integrations, page features, and offers from InCom are included in their base package. There’s no need to budget for add-ons unless you want one of the premium templates they offer or some of their premium marketing options.








Examples of InCom Real Estate Websites for Agents

InCom: The Bottom Line

InCom offers a fantastic real estate website at an affordable price. For agents operating a one-person business, they provide all the elements you need to be successful, and their additional premium ad support and lead generation options are great ways to get your business into growth mode. Whether you’re a new agent or a seasoned professional, InCom is a great option for anyone looking for a real estate website builder.

Check out InCom

5. Best Real Estate Website Builder for Brokers & Teams: BoomTown

BoomTown logo

Larger organizations require a different approach with features like lead distribution, team tracking, pipeline management, and more. BoomTown offers all of this, taking the website building process out of the individual’s hands and making it an office solution.

BoomTown Pricing

BoomTown’s real estate websites for agents and brokerages start at $1,000 per month, plus a $750 onboarding fee for their Launch package, which is ideal for one to three agents.

The next step up is their Grow package at $1,550 a month plus a $1,550 onboarding fee, designed for teams or brokerages of three to 10 people.

BoomTown also offers a whole suite of other products, including a CRM, lead generation, marketing automation, lead qualification, and pipeline management.

Unfortunately, the prices for each of these products is not listed publicly and are subject to change based on the other products you purchase, so we weren’t able to get a clear understanding of all the different BoomTown product prices.

BoomTown Pricing at a Glance—January 2022

Package
Price
Launch (1-2 agents)
$1,000 / month + $750 onboarding fee
Core (2-5 agents)
$1,300 / month + $1,700 onboarding fee
Grow (3-10 agents)
$1,500 / month + $1,500 onboarding fee
Advance (11+ agents)
Call for pricing

Since BoomTown is geared toward brokerages and teams, the prices of their products are definitely in a different weight class than other real estate website builders on our list. However, BoomTown offers other perks you might not find elsewhere, giving you a serious bang for your buck. Some perks include access to a very competitive real estate CRM, lead distribution tools, and some brokerage-level marketing strategies.








Examples of BoomTown Real Estate Websites for Agents & Brokerages

BoomTown: The Bottom Line

If you need a real estate website solution for your brokerage or team, BoomTown is the best place to get it. Yes, it’s a little pricey, but you get a lot for your money, and even though there’s an investment to be made, running a business requires investment on a large scale if you’re going to support the success of multiple agents.

Check out BoomTown

6. Best Builder for Agents Seeking Attractive Templates & Flexible Design: Squarespace

Squarespace logo

Squarespace provides, far and away, the most templates, design flexibility, and options for anyone creating a website—including real estate professionals. To be totally clear, Squarespace is not a real estate-specific platform. As such, they’re missing a couple of website elements, like a built-in CRM and real estate lead capture landing pages that you’ll find on Placester and InCom.

However, the platform provides a wide array of website design options, and these integrate with nearly every major CRM and lead capture platform on the web. Any integration challenges can be overcome, especially if you have a specific vision for how you want your website to look, and you feel that you can’t achieve your goals using the relatively restrictive templates of the other providers.

Overall, Squarespace is an affordable, open-world option for real estate professionals who want total control over their website’s design and don’t mind integrating their website with other real estate products like a CRM or email marketing system.

Squarespace Pricing

Squarespace pricing starts at $12 per month when paid annually for their Personal Plan.

Though a well-appointed package, most real estate agents will find the Business Plan at $18 per month (when paid annually) to be the way to go. This plan allows better on-page lead capture, one year of free Google Workspace access, and other premium design elements.

Squarespace Pricing at a Glance—January 2022

Squarespace Package
Price
Personal$12 / month (annually) or $16 / month (monthly)
Business$18 / month (annually) or $26 / month (monthly)

Squarespace also offers pricing options for individuals looking to sell things directly on their site. While most real estate agents don’t need this feature, if you ever decide to offer professional real estate products like coaching or services, Squarespace lets you take payments and sell right from your site.








Examples of Squarespace Real Estate Websites for Agents

Squarespace: The Bottom Line

Out of all the website builders that aren’t real estate-specific, Squarespace is the clear leader. Their designs are beautiful, their options are virtually limitless, and their prices are very competitive. Though they lack some of the industry-specific touches that a provider like Placester makes available, they are still a very viable option for anyone needing to design a new online presence.

Check out Squarespace

Your Turn

Are there any real estate website builders that we missed? What other providers are worthy of review? Tell us which platform you use and what your experiences have been in the comments below.

Real estate websites are one of the many real estate marketing tools agents need to get more leads and promote their business. If you’re looking for more ideas to fill your lead funnel, make sure to check out our article 37 Underrated Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas for 2021.

The post The 6 Best Real Estate Website Builders of 2022 appeared first on The Close.

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Real Trends Top 25 Real Estate Agent Websites RANKED (+ Tips & Tools) https://theclose.com/real-estate-agent-websites/ https://theclose.com/real-estate-agent-websites/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:00:30 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=1598 Have you ever wondered how your website stacks up against the top 25 agents on the Real Trends 500?

The post Real Trends Top 25 Real Estate Agent Websites RANKED (+ Tips & Tools) appeared first on The Close.

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Have you ever wondered how your website stacks up against the top 25 agents on the Real Trends 500? Well, wonder no more. In this updated article, we ranked the real estate agent websites of the top agents (by volume) in the country. After the rankings, we go over the best tools and resources for agents to build or improve their websites in 2022.

Our Top Picks for the Best Real Estate Agent Websites for 2022

After weighing our own subjective judgment of layout and design with more objective quality measures like page loading speed and Domain Authority, we came up with our top picks for the best real estate agent websites for 2022:

Best Layout & Design: Tim Allen

Tim Allen real estate agent website desktop view

Of all the real estate agent websites we tested, we thought Tim Allen’s had the best overall layout and design. The site is a perfect example of just how crucial choosing the right font is for your website. Almost every site we looked at had lush drone videos, but the font choices never quite worked. Tim Allen’s site meshes great visuals and great typography perfectly.

Runner-up: Jade Mills

Jade Mills real estate agent website in desktop view

Since we had an extremely difficult time choosing the best layout and design among real estate agent websites, we decided to also include Jade Mill’s site as a runner-up. Jade’s site has the same flawless layout and design, with a slightly different aesthetic. Both scream luxury, but in different ways. Which one do you think is better? Let us know in the comments.

Best Personal Branding Website: Susan Breitenbach

Susan Breitenbach website in desktop view

While personal branding is not technically part of website design, the imagery an agent chooses to represent themselves and their personal brand is. While most sites went with lush drone videos of beaches and mansions, Susan Breitenbach chose a friendly picture of herself on the beach. Agents are selling their personal brand, not houses. A crucial difference many realtors choose to ignore.

Runner-up: Sandro Dazzan

Sandro Dazzan The Agency brokerage website in desktop view

Another almost perfect mix of gorgeous imagery and beautiful typography, Sandro Dazzan also puts his personal brand front and center on his website. While the majority of the agents on our list featured ethereal drone videos on their image slider, we thought Sandro’s were especially lovely, and he leads right into his bio and headshot from there.

Fastest Loading Time (Mobile & Desktop): Tracy Campion

Tracy Campion and Company website in desktop view

While there were some stylistic choices on Tracy Campion’s website we would have done differently, her site was the fastest loading website by far, scoring an almost perfect 91 out of 100 on Google’s Page Speed Insights Tool on desktop, and a solid 65 on mobile.

Why This Matters

After Google’s Page Experience Algorithm Update rolled out in August of 2021, loading times on desktop and especially mobile have become crucial ranking factors for Google. You can learn more about this important update and how important it is for your website here: (Google.com) Understanding page experience in Google Search results.

Bonus: Create Your Own (Affordable) Beautifully Designed Real Estate Agent Website

Layout and design: Excellent

Beautifully Designed Website from Placester

Here’s the truth: Competition for leads online will only get fiercer in 2022. That means you need a great-looking real estate website if you want to even have a chance of dominating your farm area.

Luckily, you no longer need to spend a ton of money to get one. The brand-new designs from Placester not only look gorgeous, but are highly customizable, very easy to use, work with your customer relationship management (CRM) software, and start at just $64 per month for National Association of Realtors (NAR) members.

Visit Placester


1. Ben Caballero: 4.1 (out of 5)

HomesUSA real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

HomesUSA real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Ben Cabellero’s homeusa.com website is clean, attractive, and gets the job done. Since this site is likely targeting developers just as much as it’s targeting homebuyers, it does feel a bit more corporate than other brokerage sites. Slow loading times on both mobile and desktop brought the overall score down.

Our Ranking of Ben Cabellero’s Website

Website: https://homesusa.com/
Layout and design: 4.4 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
IDX provider: Quickfinder
Loading time desktop: 20 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 5 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 40 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.1 (out of 5)

2. Christian Angle: 4.4 (out of 5)

Christian Angle real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Christian Angle real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Since he’s a luxury broker, Christian Angle’s website was a little more polished and attractive than homeusa.com. It also loaded faster and had search features more prominently displayed on the home page. The “call us” and “inquire” buttons at the bottom of the mobile view were a nice touch.

Our Ranking of Christian Angle’s Website

Website: https://anglerealestate.com/
Layout and Design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
IDX provider: IDX Broker
Loading time desktop: 57 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 20 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 31 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.4 (out of 5)

3. Ralph Harvey: 4.3 (out of 5)

Ralph Harvey website in desktop view
Desktop view

Ralph Harvey website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Ralph Harvey’s website is dedicated entirely to getting listings, so it does not have any of the usual bells and whistles that other agent’s sites have. It won’t win any design awards, but it gets the job done well enough to propel Harvey into the third spot for agents by volume.

Our Ranking of Ralph Harvey’s Website

Website: https://listwithfreedom.com/
Layout and design: 4.4 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
IDX provider: IDX Broker
Loading time desktop: 48 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 17 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 22 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.3 (out of 5)

4. Andrew Ernemann 4.6 (out of 5)

Andrew Ernemann real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Andrew Ernemann real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Unlike many of the real estate agent websites of the Real Trends Top 25, Aspen luxury broker Andrew Ernemann’s website also loaded fast on desktop. The mobile loading time could improve, but it was still better than most other sites on the list.

Our Ranking of Andrew Ernemann’s Website

Website: https://aspenreimagined.com/
Layout and design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 70 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 45 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 15 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.6 (out of 5)

5. Craig Morris: 4.5 (out of 5)

Craig Morris website desktop view
Desktop view

Craig Morris website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Craig Morris’ website won’t win any design awards, but it looks good and gets the job done well. Loading time was fast on desktop, but slowed down considerably on mobile. This is something realtors need to be aware of as Google changes their algorithm to favor mobile content.

Our Ranking of Craig Morris’ Website

Website: http://www.craigmorris.com/
Layout and design: 4.6 (out of 5)
CMS: Custom
Loading time desktop: 72 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 29 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 42 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.5 (out of 5)

6. Jade Mills: 4.9 (Winner, Best Layout & Design)

Jade Mills real estate agent website in desktop view
Desktop view

Jade Mills real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Our pick for the best-designed real estate agent website of 2022, the Jade Mills site is exactly what you would expect from one of the top luxury brokers in Beverly Hills. It just oozes luxury and prestige, but still manages to offer site visitors easy access to what they’re looking for. The only issue we found with this otherwise perfect website was slow loading time on mobile. While this is probably not going to lead to fewer closed deals for Jade, it is something her web designer should work on improving as mobile-first design becomes more common.

Our Ranking of Jade Mills’ Website

Website: http://www.craigmorris.com/
Layout and design: 5 (out of 5)
CMS: Custom
Loading time desktop: 77 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 23 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 50 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.9 (out of 5)

7. Carrie Wells: 4.8 (out of 5)

Carrie Well website in desktop view
Desktop view

Carrie Well website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Another beautifully designed website from a broker in Aspen, Carrie Well’s website scored high in the layout and design category but fell slightly behind with a slower mobile loading time and lower Domain Authority. More proof that mobile optimization should be a primary focus for real estate website designers in 2022.

Our Ranking of Carrie Well’s Website

Website: https://carriewells.com/
Layout and design: 4.9 (out of 5)
CMS: Custom
Loading time desktop: 88 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 30 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 31 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.8 (out of 5)

8. Tracy Campion: 4.7 (out of 5)

Tracy Campion and Company website in desktop view
Desktop view

Tracy Campion and Company website in Mobile view
Mobile view

While we love the vintage elements of Tracy’s branding that made their way into her website’s design, it did feel slightly cluttered and not quite as put together as some of the other sites on the list. For example, the logo is a little bit blurry, and the mobile layout seemed to compress the logo horizontally on our Android test device. That said, Tracy’s website was one of the only sites to have a fast mobile loading time.

Our Ranking of Tracy Campion’s Website

Website: https://www.campionre.com/
Layout and design: 4.6 (out of 5)
CMS: Custom
Loading time desktop: 91 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 65 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 26 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.7 (out of 5)

9. Dana Koch: 4.6 (out of 5)

Dana Koch Corcoran website in desktop view
Desktop view

Dana Koch Corcoran website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Dana Koch is a new breed (or old breed?) of agent who does not have a website. Instead, we decided to grade Corcoran’s website. As you might expect from a luxury brokerage that cut its teeth in 1980s Manhattan, it’s pretty nice. Surprisingly though, Corcoran’s site was slow to load on both desktop and mobile.

Our Ranking of Corcoran’s Website

Website: https://www.corcoran.com/
Layout and design: 4.7 (out of 5)
CMS: Next.js/WordPress
Loading time desktop: 41 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 19 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 68 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.6 (out of 5)

10. David Roberts: 4.6 (out of 5)

David Roberts real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

David Roberts real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

David Roberts’ website is nice although a little generic-looking. The drone videos on the image slider are gorgeous, but considering just how expensive the properties they sell are, we would love to see a refresh to make the site feel a bit more luxurious. That said, the site had one of the fastest loading times on the list on both desktop and mobile, so maybe simple is better?

Our Ranking of David Roberts’ Website

Website: https://royalpalm.com/
Layout and design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 85 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 41 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 36 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.6 (out of 5)

11. Suzanne Frisbie: 4.7 (out of 5)

Suzanne Frisbie website in desktop view
Desktop view

Suzanne Frisbie website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Susan Frisbie’s site was also nice—if a little bit generic. That said, there were some more creative layout choices and slightly more up-to-date branding, which we liked. The site also loaded very fast on both desktop and mobile, which is crucial for ranking on Google.

Our Ranking of Susan Frisbie’s Website

Website: https://frisbiepalmbeach.com/
Layout and design: 4.6 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 91 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 65 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 15 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.7 (out of 5)

12. Ginger Glass 4.6 (out of 5)

Ginger Glass website in desktop view
Desktop view

Ginger Glass website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Ginger Glass’ website was also nice, but we found the font choices for the site a bit questionable. Personal preference! The site did load fairly quickly on desktop but was a bit slower on mobile.

Our Ranking of Ginger Glass’ Website

Website: https://www.gingerglass.com/
Layout and design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 60 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 31 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 15 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.6 (out of 5)

13. Dora Puig: 3.5 (out of 5)

Dora Puig website in desktop view
Desktop view

Dora Puig website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Are we to the point yet where early aughts website design is retro and cool? If not, Dora Puig’s website is well, how to put this delicately … not great? Amazingly for such a simple website, this site still loads relatively slowly on mobile. We have a sneaking suspicion that IDX might have something to do with the slow loading times.

Our Ranking of Ginger Glass’ Website

Website: https://www.dorapuig.com/
Layout and design: 3.4 (out of 5)
CMS: None!
Loading time desktop: 66 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 31 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 30 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 3.5 (out of 5)

14. Tim Allen: 5.0 (out of 5)

Tim Allen real estate agent website desktop view
Desktop view

Tim Allen real estate agent website in mobile view
Mobile view

Tim Allen’s site is an excellent example of just how big a difference choosing the right font can make for a website. The drone videos on the slider are lovely too, but pretty much all the websites on our list had beautiful imagery. It’s not easy, but taking the time to work with your designer to choose the right font is crucial for a great website.

Our Ranking of Tim Allen’s Website

Website: https://timallenproperties.com/
Layout and design: 4.9 (out of 5)
CMS: None!
Loading time desktop: 92 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 44 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 30 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 5.0 (out of 5)

15. Harald Grant: 4.5 (out of 5)

Harald Grant real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Harald Grant real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

We’re fairly sure this is a website provided by Sotheby’s and as brokerage freebie websites go, it’s acceptable. We would like to see a slightly more integrated header and the content area and video slider extended to the full width of the page, though. Font choices could be better too. Both the serif and sans serif fonts for the body copy are difficult to read at that size.

Our Ranking of Harald Grant’s Website

Website: http://www.haraldgrantrealestate.com/
Layout and design: 4.4 (out of 5)
CMS: None!
Loading time desktop: 78 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 47 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 22 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.5 (out of 5)

16. Santiago Arana: 4.4 (out of 5)

Santiago Arana website in desktop view
Desktop view

Santiago Arana website in Mobile view
Mobile view

We love The Agency’s branding, but can’t help but think their website could use a quick refresh. For example, the red content grid in the middle of the homepage has a pretty generic stock image of a kid yelling into a microphone. This is the third result when you search for “scream” on Unsplash. Not the end of the world, of course, but we expect more from a trend-setting brokerage like The Agency. Mobile loading speed was also very slow.

Our Ranking of Santiago Arana’s Website

Website: http://www.haraldgrantrealestate.com/
Layout and design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: None!
Loading time desktop: 27 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 8 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 62 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.4 (out of 5)

17. Dina Goldentayer: 4.7 (out of 5)

Dina Goldentayer website in desktop view
Desktop view

Dina Goldentayer website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Dina Goldentayer’s site is a single agent site provided by Douglas Elliman, and we think they do an excellent job. The layout is a bit more creative and put together than many other brokerage’s agent pages, and focusing on listings, in the news, and social media accounts makes a lot of sense for luxury agent pages. Loading speed wasn’t amazing but was at least consistent between desktop and mobile.

Our Ranking of Dina Goldentayer’s Website

Website: https://dinagoldentayer.elliman.com/
Layout and design: 4.7 (out of 5)
CMS: Custom
Loading time desktop: 38 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 39 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 70 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.7 (out of 5)

18. Susan Breitenbach: 4.8 (out of 5)

Susan Breitenbach website in desktop view
Desktop view

Susan Breitenbach website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Susan Breitenbach’s website has a DIY feel to it—but in a charming way. It’s very clean and spare looking, and we liked how she bucks tradition and doesn’t shove a search bar or listings in your face. It feels personal and welcoming—perfect for selling homes in the Hamptons.

Our Ranking of Susan Breitenbach’s Website

Website: https://susanbreitenbach.com/
Layout and design: 4.7 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 96 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 76 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 36 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.8 (out of 5)

19. Jason Saphire: 4.2 (out of 5)

Jason Saphire website in desktop view
Desktop view

Jason Saphire website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Jason Saphire’s website is another low fee MLS listing site and while we don’t doubt that it converts like crazy, it’s not exactly pretty. Then again, it doesn’t have to be to do its job as a landing page. As someone wiser than us once said, “ugly converts.”

Our Ranking of Jason Saphire’s Website

Website: https://entryonly.com/
Layout and design: 4.1 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 46 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 41 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 88 (out of 100)
The Close Score:

20. Sandro Dazzan: 4.9 (out of 5)

Sandro Dazzan The Agency brokerage website in desktop view
Desktop view

The Agency brokerage website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Feature film quality drone video on the slider, thoughtful font choices, and an attractive layout. What’s not to like here? This is a gorgeous website and we had a hard time finding faults with it. We just wish The Agency brokerage website took a few design cues from Sandro’s website! Mobile speed was a bit slow, but so were most of the other websites on the list.

Our Ranking of Sandro Dazzan’s Website

Website: https://sandrodazzan.com/
Layout and design: 4.9 (out of 5)
CMS: Luxury Presence
Loading time desktop: 60 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 24 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 17 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.9 (out of 5)

21. Judy Citron: ​​4.5 (out of 5)

Judy Citron real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Judy Citron real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

A fresh approach indeed! While we’re not 100% sold on using her last name as a pun to create her branding, we were, well, refreshed to see some creative design choices on her site. After staring at an endless array of hazy Malibu beach drone videos, a fun lemon animation was a welcome change. That said, loading speed was very slow on mobile, probably due to the lemon animation we liked so much.

Our Ranking of Judy Citron’s Website

Website: https://judycitron.com/
Layout and design: 4.6 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 56 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 11 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 18 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.5 (out of 5)

22. Shana Rohde-Lynch: 4.5 (out of 5)

Shana Rohde-Lynch real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Shana Rohde-Lynch real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

Nothing groundbreaking here, and we wish her branding was a bit better, but overall this is a pretty solid website. Maybe a bit too minimal, but it does work.

Our Ranking of Shana Rhode-Lynch’s Website

Website: https://www.go2marin.com/
Layout and design: 4.4 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 45 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 29 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 18 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.5 (out of 5)

23. Nancy Kogevinas: 4.4 (out of 5)

Nancy Kogevina real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Nancy Kogevina real estate website Mobile view
Mobile view

A well-designed site for sure, but we weren’t wild about the placement of the logos in the header. They seemed a bit too close to the navigation bar for comfort. I get why they did that, but choosing better breakpoints would have done the same thing.

Our Ranking of Nancy Kogevinas’ Website

Website: https://www.montecitoproperties.com/
Layout and design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: WordPress
Loading time desktop: 46 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 19 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 22 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.4 (out of 5)

24. Jordan Cohen: 4.5 (out of 5)

Jordan Cohen Luxury real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Jordan Cohen Luxury real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

A nice-looking site, but maybe starting to feel a little bit dated. This kind of severe design style seemed to be everywhere a few years ago, but most other agents have softened the edges a bit. This does seem to work well with his personal branding. The site also loads quickly on desktop, so a decent compromise maybe.

Our Ranking of Jordan Cohen’s Website

Website: https://jordancohen.com/
Layout and design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: Custom
Loading time desktop: 88 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 31 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 38 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.5 (out of 5)

25. Tim Davis: 4.5 (out of 5)

Tim Davis real estate website in desktop view
Desktop view

Tim Davis real estate website in Mobile view
Mobile view

A fairly standard real estate agent website with pleasant drone photography on the slider and solid typography. It’s a little on the safe side, but traditional seems like the way to go to sell Hampton’s real estate. This was also one of the only sites on the list to have a chatbot featured prominently on the homepage.

[Related article: The Best Real Estate Chatbots for 2022 (Pricing & More)]

Our Ranking of Tim Davis’ Website

Website: https://timdavishamptons.com
Layout and design: 4.5 (out of 5)
CMS: Custom
Loading time desktop: 88 (out of 100)
Loading time mobile: 31 (out of 100)
Domain Authority: 38 (out of 100)
The Close Score: 4.5 (out of 5)


The Best Tools & Resources to Build or Improve Your Real Estate Website in 2022

real estate agent website in desktop and mobile previews

Are you inspired yet? Ready to build your own real estate agent website? Well, you’ve come to the right place. We put together this handy list of real estate agent website resources to make your life easier.

DIY Real Estate Website Builders

Cost: $50-$350 per month

Website builders save you the trouble of building your site from scratch or even from WordPress templates. Using a website builder, you can get a gorgeous website for a fraction of the cost of a custom-designed website.

Here are our favorite real estate website builders for 2022:

Placester logo
[Read: Placester Review + Video: Is It Really the Best Real Estate Website Builder?]

Visit Placester


RealGeeks logo
[Read: Real Geeks Review: An In-depth Look at Pricing & Features]

Visit Real Geeks


Propertybase Logo
[Read: The 6 Best Real Estate Website Builders of 2021]

Visit Propertybase


Custom Real Estate Agent Website Designers

Cost: $5,000+

If you have some money to spend, then hiring a custom real estate agent website designer might have a good return on investment (ROI) for you. Here are a few recommended design agencies that Real Trends agents use:

Agent Image Logo

Agent Image designed websites for several Real Trends agents and teams including The Jills Zeder Group and the Sue Adler Team. They have been around for years and have an excellent reputation.

Example websites: Sue Adler Team, Jills Zeder Group

Visit Agent Image


Real Estate Webmasters Logo

Real Estate Webmasters designed websites for Real Trends brokerages like Daniel Gale. Like Agent Image, they’ve been around for years and have an excellent reputation.

Example websites: Daniel Gale Sotheby’s, The Agency

Visit Real Estate Webmasters


Luxury Presence Logo

Luxury Presence focuses on luxury real estate websites and has designed sites for top agents like Jade Mills and Dawn McKenna.

Example websites: Jade Mills, Dawn McKenna

Visit Luxury Presence


Union Street Media Logo

Union Street Media designed websites for top agents like Tracey Campion and Tate and Foss.

Example websites: Tate & Foss Sotheby’s, Campion & Company

Visit Union Street Media


Optimizing Your Website for Lead Capture

Of course, having a pretty site won’t help much if you can’t convert site visitors into leads. Our guide to optimizing your website for lead capture is a good place to start learning how to get more leads from your website:

[Related article: 7 Web Design Tricks for Realtors to Get More Leads]


Graphic Design Tools

Cost: Free-$19.99 per month

If you want a professional-looking website, you’re also going to want to use professional graphic design tools to create graphics. Here are our picks:

Adobe Photoshop CC logoAdobe Photoshop is the industry standard for graphics creation and editing photographs. There is a bit of a learning curve, but in our opinion, it is worth the effort. You can get a subscription to Photoshop and Lightroom, Adobe’s image editing software, for $19.99 per month.

Visit Adobe Photoshop


Canva logo

Canva is a simplified version of Photoshop that includes thousands of templates for creating graphics for your website. You can get a subscription to Canva Pro for $4.58 per month.

Visit Canva


Image Resources

Cost: Free!

Next, you’re going to need high-quality stock images and lots of them. We recommend Unsplash, which is 100% free and has beautiful, high-quality images to download.

UnsplashUnsplash is our go-to resource for free stock images. The quality of images is usually much better than other stock photography sites.

Visit Unsplash


Real Estate SEO Guide

Ranking your website on Google isn’t easy, but there are simple strategies you can use to eventually rank for keywords that will get you leads. To learn more, check out our guide to real estate search engine optimization (SEO) here:

[Related article: Real Estate SEO: 11 Tips to Dominate Local Search & Get Free Leads in 2021]

WordPress Tutorial

If you’re looking for a good do-it-yourself tutorial on building your own real estate agent website with WordPress, check out our in-depth, step-by-step guide here.

[Related article: How to Build an IDX Real Estate Website: The Ultimate Guide 2021]

Single Property Websites

Cost: $24-$99 per month

Single property websites seem to have had their day in the sun already, but they still have some uses for unique properties and luxury estates. They are also a great way to impress easily impressed homeowners. You can build one using WordPress themes or dedicated single property website builders. Check out our guide below to learn more.

[Related article: How Smart Agents Build Single Property Websites in 2021 (Are They Still Worth It?)]


Methodology: How We Ranked the Best Real Estate Agent Websites

Using a mixture of objective measurements (Domain Authority and Google PageSpeed Insights) combined with subjective measurements (our assessment of design and layout), we came up with The Close Score, our method of ranking real estate websites.

Here is a quick breakdown of what our measurements mean and why you should pay attention to them when building your website:





Over to You

What do you think are the best real estate agent websites? Let us know in the comments.

The post Real Trends Top 25 Real Estate Agent Websites RANKED (+ Tips & Tools) appeared first on The Close.

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25 Real Estate Marketing Tools Every Agent Needs for 2022 (+ Reviews & Pricing) https://theclose.com/real-estate-marketing-tools/ https://theclose.com/real-estate-marketing-tools/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2022 13:00:02 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=11478 If you’re not a tech geek, keeping up with the latest and greatest real estate marketing tools can be a challenge.

The post 25 Real Estate Marketing Tools Every Agent Needs for 2022 (+ Reviews & Pricing) appeared first on The Close.

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If you’re not a tech geek, keeping up with the latest and greatest real estate marketing tools can be a challenge. That’s why we decided to update our list of the best tools available for realtors in 2022.

Click on a category below to jump to descriptions and in-depth reviews of The Close’s top picks for the best real estate marketing tools of 2022:

Real Estate Marketing Tool Category
Best Tools
Websites
Real Geeks, Propertybase, WordPress, Placester
Social Media Tools
Artur’In, PorchLyte, Coffee & Contracts, Hootsuite, Buffer, Tailwind
Marketing-focused CRMs
LionDesk, IXACT Contact
Community Engagement Tools
Parkbench
Graphic Design Tools
Lab Coat Agents Marketing Center, Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Kapwing, Unsplash
SEO Tools
Ahrefs, SEMrush
SMS Marketing Tools
SlickText, EZ Texting
Video Production Tools
Rode VideoMicro, Lumen5, Animoto

Websites

Real Geeks

RealGeeks logo

Cost: $299 per month
Learning curve: Low

One of the earliest providers of all-in-one IDX websites and customer relationship management (CRM) tools, Real Geeks offers agents, teams, and brokerages a true turnkey solution for their online marketing efforts. There are way, way too many features to list here, but you will get a gorgeous IDX website optimized for lead generation, a powerful CRM, a property valuation tool, SMS texting, market reports, and—yeah, way too much to list here.

Visit Real Geeks

[Related article: Real Geeks Review: An In-depth Look at Pricing & Features]


Propertybase

Propertybase Logo

Cost: Starting at $89 per user, per month
Learning curve: Low

Originally Boston Logic, Propertybase is the professional real estate team’s secret weapon. They offer killer IDX websites with mapping features as well as an integrated CRM that is designed to help teams nurture leads long term and drive more referrals and business. If you already have a website, they offer a standalone CRM that was recently revamped to be even more effective at keeping teams organized and marketing like Fortune 500 companies.

Visit Propertybase

[Related article: Propertybase GO Review: The Next Generation of Real Estate CRM?]


DIY WordPress Website

WordPress Logo

Cost: Free to $5,000 and up
Learning curve: High

If you’re a bit more tech-savvy and want to get your hands dirty, then you might want to try your hand at building a WordPress website to show off your brand online. While WordPress is easy to use compared to building a site from scratch, the learning curve for non-tech-savvy agents is high. You’ll also need to pay to add features like IDX listings, which come standard with most real estate websites.

Visit WordPress

Related articles:


Placester

Placester Logo

Cost: Starting at $80 per month
Learning curve: Medium

While they don’t offer a robust, integrated CRM, Placester is definitely worth considering for one reason: they make lovely websites. While there is some debate on whether or not your website needs to be beautiful to convert leads, there is no debate that an ugly site will hurt your brand. So if you already have a CRM you love, you can’t go wrong with a Placester website.

Visit Placester

[Related article: Placester Review + Video: Is It Really the Best Real Estate Website Builder?]


Social Media Tools

Artur’In

Artur'In Logo

Cost: $199 to $399 per month ($300 setup fee waived for Close readers)
Learning curve: Low

One of the biggest problems agents have with social media is finding the time to post enough to stay relevant and feed the algorithms. Artur’In solves this problem by posting sticky, local real estate content to your social media channels for you. So instead of hunting for great content to post every morning, you can focus on creating high-value video content using Instagram Stories or Reels.

[Related article: Instagram Stories for Agents: 12 Easy Ways to Drive Engagement]

Visit Artur’in


PorchLyte

PorchLyte Logo

Cost: $47 per month
Learning curve: Low

Founded by Tracey Henning, a Realtor with 27 years of experience, PorchLyte offers agents social media posts, lead magnets, video scripts, blog posts, and training to put it all together into an unstoppable social media presence. She also runs an exclusive Facebook community to share referrals and swap social media strategies.

Close readers can claim 7 days of ready-to-go customizable social media templates from PorchLyte for free. 

Visit PorchLyte


Coffee & Contracts

Coffee & Contracts Logo

Cost: $54 per month
Learning curve: Low

Another Realtor-founded company, Coffee & Contracts offers agents gorgeous and trendy templates for Instagram. Founder Haley Ingram calls it “Your $54-a-month Marketing Manager” and we couldn’t agree more. Hiring a social media manager who keeps up with the latest trends as Haley does would easily cost you 10 times what she charges. Assuming you could even find one!

Visit Coffee & Contracts


Hootsuite

Hootsuite logo

Cost: $29 to $599 per month
Learning curve: Low

Hootsuite is the social media software that 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies trust to plan, create, and schedule their social media posts to maximize views and engagement. Hootsuite lets you store frequently used assets like images and logos so you can create and schedule social media content for multiple channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more from one app.

Visit Hootsuite


Buffer

Buffer logo

Cost: Free to $99 per month
Learning curve: Low

Like Hootsuite, Buffer also lets agents plan, create, and schedule social media posts. They also have a cool feature that lets you add the first comment to your Instagram posts to entice your followers to engage and include more info about your post. The best part is that, unlike Hootsuite, Buffer offers a limited free version that lets you manage three social accounts and schedule up to 10 posts. Most teams will probably opt to upgrade to the Pro plan for only $15 a month, though.

Visit Buffer


Tailwind

Tailwind logo

Cost: Free to $9.99 per month
Learning curve: Low

Spend lots of time on Pinterest or Instagram? Then an app like Tailwind is right up your alley. Tailwind lets you schedule social media posts for Pinterest and Instagram but also helps you discover key influencers to work with on Pinterest and trending hashtags to post with on Instagram. Even better, Tailwind has a free trial that lasts forever, so you can use a limited version of the app without paying a dime. Of course, if you want to upgrade, Tailwind is only $9.99 per channel, per month. So if you only want to use Tailwind for Instagram, you’re in luck.

Visit Tailwind

[Related article: 21 Real Estate Social Media Marketing Tips From Top Agents & Coaches]


Marketing-focused CRMs

Speaking of automating relationships, a great customer relationship management (CRM) tool can do just that but on an even higher level than your phone, albeit with a less personal touch. That said, you can use it to automate text messages and schedule phone calls, so there’s a pretty good argument that your CRM is even more important than your phone for marketing. Here are two killer CRMs for individual agents and teams.


LionDesk

LionDesk logo

Cost: $21 per month
Learning curve: Medium

LionDesk is a lightweight, affordable, and easy-to-use CRM that has everything you need to start organizing and automating your relationships, and with transaction management thrown in for good measure. Even better, you can get set up with LionDesk starting at just $21 per month—less than half what other CRM companies charge.

Visit LionDesk

[Related article: LionDesk Review: The New King of the Real Estate CRM Jungle?]


IXACT Contact

IXACT contact logo

Cost: $33 per user, per month
Learning curve: Medium

When it comes to bang for your buck from a CRM with great marketing tools, IXACT Contact is hard to beat. For just $33 per month, IXACT Contact users get marketing extras like social media automation, a beautiful agent website, and an automated monthly e-newsletter. Agents even get “concierge” setup help and unlimited phone support to make sure they’re getting the best return on investment (ROI).

Click here to learn more and start your free five-week trial to check out this marketing-focused CRM.

Visit IXACT Contact

Related articles:


Community Engagement Tools

Parkbench

Parkbench Logo

Cost: Varies by ZIP code
Learning curve: Low

When it comes to building relationships with local businesses that will get you tons of referrals, there’s only one game in town: Parkbench. Parkbench is the only real estate marketing tool that gives you a turnkey solution to building relationships and nurturing them to generate referrals.

[Related article: How Parkbench Helps Agents Drive Community Connections (Even During a Pandemic)]

Visit Parkbench


Graphic Design Tools

Lab Coat Agents Marketing Center

lab coat agents marketing center

Cost: $59 per month
Learning curve: Low

LCA Marketing Center is like Canva on steroids. It gives you all the super-easy-to-use design tools Canva does but is only for real estate agents. That means you won’t have to struggle to force restaurant templates to work for your flyers. The designs are also top-notch and very professional-looking.

LCA Marketing Center Design tools

Visit Lab Coat Agents Marketing


Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop CC logo

Cost: $20.99 per month
Learning curve: High

Of course, if you want to get really serious, then Adobe Photoshop is a no-brainer. It is and has been the choice of every serious graphic design professional for more than 20 years now. Facing stiff competition from the likes of LCA Marketing Center and Canva, prices have gone down dramatically. The learning curve is high, though, so Photoshop will require an investment of time and effort to pay off.

Visit Adobe Photoshop


Canva

canva logo

Cost: Free to $30 per month
Learning curve: Medium

Designed as a Photoshop replacement for the non-tech savvy, Canva is a must-have for agents who don’t have the time to learn Photoshop, or just want to create great-looking visual assets right away. It works a lot like Photoshop—the only difference is that it doesn’t offer nearly as many features. Instead, you get thousands of predesigned templates that you can customize and make your own.

Visit Canva


Kapwing

Kapwing Logo

Cost: Free to $20 per month
Learning curve: Low

Have you ever wondered how we make all those hilarious memes (our mothers think they’re funny) that we share on social media? The answer is our secret meme-making weapon called Kapwing. Kapwing offers tons of meme templates that you can quickly and easily customize, as you can with Canva. Kapwing also lets you make and edit videos, add subtitles, add music to videos, and more.

Visit Kapwing


Unsplash

Unsplash logo

Cost: Free
Learning curve: Low

Venture capital-backed Unsplash is the best source for royalty-free images online. Full stop. This is where we get 99% of our stock photos for The Close. The only drawback is that the selection of images is limited compared to other sources. The quality is higher, though, so this should be your first choice for royalty-free photos.

Visit Unsplash


SEO Tools

Ahrefs

Ahrefs Logo

Cost: $99 per month
Learning curve: Medium

Over the past few years, Ahrefs has managed to wrestle the throne away from Moz and become the most accurate and most useful search engine optimization (SEO) tool on the market. It lets you take the guesswork out of deciding which articles to write by showing the keywords with the most traffic and the lowest difficulty to rank for. Don’t tell them I told you this, but you could theoretically pay for just one month and research your entire content runway for the year. If you’re more serious about SEO, then a monthly subscription makes more sense.

Visit Ahrefs


SEMrush

SEMrush Logo

Cost: $83 per month
Learning curve: Medium

If you want to get serious about beating the competition, then SEMrush is an invaluable marketing tool. It lets you spy on the competition and figure out what keywords they’re ranking for, how much traffic they’re getting, and who is linking to them.

Visit SEMrush

Related articles:


SMS Marketing Tools

SlickText

SlickText logo

Cost: Free to $139 per month
Learning curve: Low

SlickText lets agents send bulk text messages for new listings or open house details, schedule texts, add pictures, and set up opt-in text messaging lists to increase engagement automatically. If you start using SlickText to market to your clients and sphere, be ready to give your thumbs a workout.

Visit SlickText


EZ Texting

EZ Texting Logo

Cost: $39 to $119 per month
Learning curve: Low

EZ Texting lets real estate agents build SMS lists that people can subscribe to by texting a keyword to their numbers. You can also use EZ Texting to create SMS polls, drip campaigns, and more.

Visit EZ Texting


Video Production Tools

If we have to explain why video is a crucial real estate marketing tool in 2022, you might just be living on another planet. Video is no longer a bonus—it’s increasingly the primary way your leads will interact with your brand.


Rode VideoMicro

Rode VideoMicro Ultracompact

Cost: $59
Learning curve: Low

This tiny little video microphone will make your videos sound professional instead of crummy. Sound is even more important than image quality when it comes to video production. After all, your audience isn’t watching your videos to see what you look like. They want to hear what you have to say. If you buy anything to improve your videos, this should be it.

Visit Rode VideoMicro


Lumen5

Lumen5 logo

Cost: Free to $149 per month
Learning curve: Medium

Lumen5 is the easy way to make professional-looking explainer videos with text, stock video, and more. Lumen5 has templates for social media as well as prosumer-level tools to help you create videos that look like they came from a Hollywood studio.

Visit Lumen5


Animoto

Animoto Logo

Cost: Free to $15 per month
Learning curve: Medium

Animoto is a drag-and-drop video editor that is designed for small businesses. It’s easy to use and gets you slick, professional-looking results without the hassle. Perfect for making quick listing videos, promotional videos, or anything else you want to make that needs to look and sound great.

[Related article: 11 Real Estate Videos Smart Agents Are Using + Examples]

Visit Animoto


Over to You

Are you using a killer real estate agent marketing tool we forgot? Let us know in the comments or join our Facebook Mastermind Group here.

The post 25 Real Estate Marketing Tools Every Agent Needs for 2022 (+ Reviews & Pricing) appeared first on The Close.

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5 Clever Real Estate Landing Pages That Convert Like Crazy https://theclose.com/real-estate-landing-pages/ https://theclose.com/real-estate-landing-pages/#comments Wed, 22 Sep 2021 10:00:05 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=5209 Real estate landing pages are standalone pages on your website with a single purpose: to convert traffic into leads.

The post 5 Clever Real Estate Landing Pages That Convert Like Crazy appeared first on The Close.

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Real estate landing pages are pages on your website with a single purpose: to convert traffic into leads. When you drive someone to your landing page, they provide their lead information in exchange for valuable content such as a property search, home valuation, or a market trend report.

In this article, we’ll discuss why you need landing pages, the essential elements of a great real estate landing page, and look at five landing page examples from top producing agents around the country. We’ll also share our recommendations for landing page providers that can help you convert more of your website traffic into leads.

Why Your Website Homepage Isn’t Enough: You Need Real Estate Landing Pages

Studies show that the typical first-time real estate website visitor will visit only two pages of your site—and they won’t stay for longer than a minute or two. Since attention spans are so short and the window to convert a visitor into a lead is so small, you need to be sending them to pages designed expressly for conversion.

The joy and excitement of fantastic Facebook or Google analytics reports for the ads you’re running will be completely dashed when you click over to your customer relationship manager (CRM) to see that not a single one of your visitors converted. Don’t send your leads to your website homepage—you need real estate landing pages instead.

The Close Recommendations: Our Top Picks for Real Estate Landing Page Providers

Real Estate Landing Page ProvidersBest For
Real GeeksAgents who want to create high-converting landing pages and a system that integrates well with popular CRM platforms to help nurture your leads
BoldLeadsAgents who want concierge-level service that includes help with landing page design and the ads that drive traffic to them
InComPrice-conscious agents who are looking for landing page services for as little as $30 a month
PlacesterAgents and teams who are looking for a new website with landing pages and a built-in strategy to help convert web traffic into leads
ChimeAgents who want a high-performering CRM to go along with their top-tier landing pages and an IDX-enabled website

Want to learn more about some of these providers? We’ve done the hard work for you. Read our review and video walk-through of the Real Geeks, BoldLeads, and Placester platforms to help you choose which one works best for you.

5 Live Real Estate Landing Page Examples

Now that we know why landing pages are important and some options for getting one set up, let’s take a look at some real estate landing page examples from actual agents and brokerages that are out there converting prospects into leads.

For the full experience, click the link to visit the page for yourself.

1. Home Valuation Landing Page

Redfin, USA

Redfin’s Home Valuation landing page

Our first real estate landing page example comes from Redfin’s Home Valuation landing page, where property owners obtain an estimate on their home’s value at no cost! Actually, that isn’t true—there is a cost. Site visitors must share their contact information, and doing so lets Redfin know that they’re at least considering the idea of selling their home—knowledge that is very valuable.

This page offers an instant valuation, meaning, when someone types in their information, they get an instant result. When it comes to home valuation pages, there is another approach—the delayed valuation, where a visitor types in their information, you get notified, and then create a custom comparative market analysis (CMA) just for them.

Maximizing Your Return From a Home Valuation Landing Page

Providing a visitor with an instant home valuation is a strong conversion strategy. However, instant valuations are based on algorithms like the one used for Zillow’s Zestimate, and aren’t always reliable.

A delayed valuation landing page allows you to put your eyes on a property’s data before confirming an estimated value for your visitor, ensuring a higher level of accuracy and detail but converting at a slightly lower rate.

Experiment with both and see which delivers the best value for your time and money.


2. Property Search Landing Page

William Fastow, Sotheby’s International Realty, Washington, D.C.

William Fastow landing page

The following real estate landing page example comes from William Fastow, a top performer in the DC area.

On the Property Search landing page, prospective buyers can search for available properties on the market and set up custom alerts for the homes they’re looking for. The cost to access these tools? Contact info.

Maximizing Your Return From a Property Search Landing Page

Prospective buyers will be much more likely to exchange their contact information for inside information or exclusive listings. Fastow does this by offering visitors a chance to “see listings before anyone else!”

When putting together your landing page, consider what is most valuable to your visitors, then offer it to them in exchange for their contact information.


3. Real Estate Farm Landing Page

Vintage Oaks, New Braunfels, Texas

Vintage Oaks landing page

Real estate agents marketing entire planned communities or using a real estate farming strategy need to have resources that can attract buyers to an entire region, not just specific properties. This landing page from Vintage Oaks, a builder-developed real estate community in Texas, offers a free e-book to anyone thinking about a purchase in exchange for contact information.

Maximizing Your Return From a Real Estate Farm Landing Page

Real estate transactions are complicated, especially on the buy side. Buyers need to think about the property itself, financing, inspections, appraisal, and more. Offering a resource that hits all those pain points is a great way to start a client relationship (good for you), as well as highlight you as a trusted adviser through a challenging process (great for your clients).

When putting together your real estate landing pages, think about more than just a single pain point. What can you provide the buyers in your market that will help them through the real estate process as a whole?


4. Community Guide Landing Page

Holly Williams, RE/MAX Gateway, Alexandria VAlocal guide landing page

As a realtor, you’re a community expert. You know every street, every city park, every hip-and-happening coffee shop, and every grocery store. You use these things to promote the listings in your community. Leverage your community expertise like Holly Williams of Alexandria, VA, does by offering exclusive advice on events, insider info on neighborhoods, and suggestions on how to get the most out of what your market has to offer.

Maximizing Your Return From a Community Guide Landing Page

By creating ads for particular communities, you capture the attention of both those who want to live there and those who already live there, making you a local expert for both buyer and seller leads.

Market your landing pages directly to potential buyers through paid advertising, and use them as evidence of your expertise in your listing appointments.


5. Exclusive Homeowner Content Landing Page

Doug Willis, Up2Date Real Estate, Pasadena, CA

exclusive content landing page

Offering content in exchange for contact information is a tried-and-true approach to real estate lead generation, as we see Doug Willis of Pasadena, CA, doing here.

The decision to sell a home often occurs weeks and sometimes months before a homeowner decides to contact a realtor. By offering content designed exclusively for this situation, you can make contact early and begin that nurturing process before any of your competitors has a chance to get involved.

Maximizing Your Return From an Exclusive Homeowner Content Landing Page

Customize your landing pages and lead magnets to your target prospects. Your lead generation strategy will be more effective if your offering speaks directly to their personal profile, goals, or needs.

For instance, if an e-book is titled “6 Projects to Complete Before Listing Your Home for Sale in Oregon,” you will likely get some conversion. But, if you titled it “6 Projects to Complete Before Listing Your Waterfront Home in Portland, Oregon,” you are likely to get a much higher conversion rate from waterfront homeowners in Portland.

The major takeaway here is that multiple, personalized landing pages are much more effective than a single, homogeneous one. When offering content to your would-be listing clients, make it as personalized as possible.


The 6 Essential Elements of Effective Real Estate Landing Pages

Now that we’ve seen some landing pages out in the wild, let’s take a look at what makes these pages so effective. Landing page providers like Placester have each of these elements baked into their templates. How would you tweak them to resonate with your particular community?

Here are six things your real estate landing page can’t do without:

1. A Strong Headline

landing page headline

Your real estate landing page’s headline is the first (and sometimes only) thing that visitors will read from start to finish, so a clear message that captures attention and is easy to understand is a must. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel here, either.

If your real estate landing page’s purpose is to drive leads for an iBuyer platform, a simple headline like “Get an offer on your home with the press of a button” will do the job perfectly.


2. A Crystal-clear Answer to the Question Being Asked

real estate social media post
(Source: Easy Agent Pro)

People visiting your landing page are doing so because they were prompted by a question they wanted an answer to—a question like “How much is my home worth?”

Real estate agents who have their landing page game dialed in know that the most effective landing pages answer these questions and ONLY these questions.

If you’ve got someone who is looking for an answer, don’t provide them with unsolicited information, background noise, or further options that don’t answer the original question.


3. A Fantastic Image

landing page image example

Great landing pages use strong imagery to reinforce (and not distract from) their message. The best landing page images represent the geographic area your prospects are either coming from or wanting to go to.

For instance, a landing page image for a real estate agent working in Manhattan could be the city skyline, the interior of a swanky New York loft, an attractive residential block, or the interior of a neighborhood coffee shop. All of these images capture an aspect of Manhattan living without distracting from the visitor’s directive.

CLOSE INSIDER TIP: Stay away from videos on landing pages. Videos can slow down the load time of a website, especially on a mobile device. According to a study done by Kissmetrics, more than 40% of your prospects will abort their visit to your site if page load time exceeds two seconds. Your cool drone video of your market’s skyline isn’t worth losing 40% of your leads.


4. A Purpose for Every Word on the Real Estate Landing Page

real estate landing page example

Every single word and punctuation mark on your real estate landing page needs to have a purpose. Remember, your audience’s attention span only allows you seconds to convince a prospect to become a lead.

The best way to go about sharpening your copy is to get others to read your work. Editing, especially by someone with a writing background and an eye for concise copy, is essential to honing your message.

5. An Optimized Lead Capture Form

lead capture form example

The most important part of any landing page is the lead capture form, where your visitors give you their personal information. According to a study by WordStream, top-of-the-funnel lead conversions will drop significantly if a landing page has more than four fields to complete. So, stick with only the information you absolutely need.

Our suggestions are: name, email address, and phone number.

Also, take advantage of the messaging your button allows. “Submit” feels clinical and boring, and doesn’t solicit feelings of urgency. Try button messaging like “Sign Me Up” or “Get It Now” to convey a conversational tone.

CLOSE INSIDER TIP: A/B testing is a great way to continually tweak the performance of your landing page’s lead capture forms. Does a red button or a green button do better? How about three forms to fill out vs four? Perform the tests, and take the data to make your landing pages better through ongoing optimization.


6. A Mobile-friendly Experience

mobile friendly landing page

Just shy of 90% of Facebook sessions occur on a mobile device, which means that if you’re running ads on Facebook to drive traffic to your landing pages, making sure the mobile experience is a good one is key. Double-check all your landing pages on both desktop and mobile before sending them live.

Your Turn

Have you had success with a real estate lead generation strategy directing prospects to landing pages? Do you have an amazing strategy for converting traffic into clients? Tell us about your experience in the comments below. If you want more advice from pros nationwide on real estate landing pages, make sure to join our free The Close Real Estate Agents Mastermind Group on Facebook.

The post 5 Clever Real Estate Landing Pages That Convert Like Crazy appeared first on The Close.

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How to Use Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads From Google https://theclose.com/real-estate-keywords/ https://theclose.com/real-estate-keywords/#comments Thu, 16 Jan 2020 15:51:15 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=7910 If you’ve ever found yourself nodding and smiling whenever a tech-savvy agent starts talking about digital marketing and throws around jargon like real estate keywords, PPC, CTR, CPM, or CPL, you’re not alone.

The post How to Use Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads From Google appeared first on The Close.

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If you’ve ever found yourself nodding and smiling whenever a tech-savvy agent starts talking about digital marketing and throws around jargon like real estate keywords, PPC, CTR, CPM, or CPL, you’re not alone. Hell, we’ve interviewed people for digital marketing positions that couldn’t even define the jargon they we’re using in the interview! Not real estate agents mind you, but digital marketing professionals. Clearly there’s a problem here.

So in order to demystify some of the jargon and strategies you’ll face when you start learning how to promote your real estate business online, we put together this in-depth article explaining what keywords are and how to find the best ones to generate leads.

Since keywords and keyword strategy is surprisingly complex, let’s start at the beginning:

What Are Real Estate Keywords?

Real estate keywords are words or short phrases that Google and other search engines use to categorize content. Generally speaking, the real estate keyword(s) used in an article will represent the main subject of the article or webpage.

What Are The Best Real Estate Keywords?

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Unfortunately, finding the best real estate keywords for your farm area is going to take a lot more work than copy/pasting a list from a website. There are two very simple reasons why keywords from a generic list like this 👉will not get you any leads from your website:👈

  1. Generic keyword lists only show what the most people are searching for. They DO NOT mention that most of them are almost impossible to rank for. Even Zillow has trouble ranking for some keywords!
  2. Even if by some miracle you manage to rank near Zillow, Trulia, your local MLS, or giant chain brokerages like Keller Williams and Compass, getting traffic outside your farm area is not going to help you close more deals. Period.

Still, it’s important to get an idea of what kind of keywords rank nationally, so all caveats aside, here’s a list of some of the best performing real estate keywords.

Best Real Estate Keywords

Keywords
Searches per Month (US)
Difficulty (ahrefs, January 2020)
Real Estate
396,000
94
Homes for sale near me
201,000
59
Houses for sale near me
172,000
53
House for sale
132,000
50
Real estate agent
47,000
57
How to buy a house
27,000
49
Condos for sale
65,000
17
Townhomes for sale
20,000
5
Realtors near me
27,000
3
Cheap houses for sale
9700
22
Foreclosed homes
25,000
0
Waterfront homes for sale
4600
8
Real estate agent
47,000
67
How much is my house worth?
25,000
60

Understanding Search Volume & Keyword Difficulty Estimates

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Since the goal of your website is to get traffic and leads, the main criteria that professional bloggers use to measure the editorial value of a keyword is the number of searches it gets per month on Google.

Search Volume: Potential Monthly Traffic

This number is called the keyword’s search volume. As you might imagine, the higher the search volume the more potential traffic you can get from writing about it, but search volume alone only tells us how many people search for a term.

As you can imagine, the higher the search volume, the more websites trying to compete for the top spots in Google for that term. The reason why is clear; if you rank No. 1 for a very high volume keyword, your site will get a ton of traffic.

Keyword Difficulty: How Hard it is to Rank For a Keyword

Luckily, SEO software companies like Moz and Ahrefs came up with a way to measure how hard it is to rank for specific keywords. This is called keyword difficulty. As we said before, generally speaking, the higher the search volume, the higher the difficulty since there will be more competition, but some keywords with relatively low search volume can have very high difficulty.

Understanding EAT Signals & Domain Authority

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Before we dig into how to research and use keywords, let’s take a quick look at other factors Google uses to rank websites.

EAT Signals

EAT is an acronym coined by Google that stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness—three criteria that Google uses besides keywords in order to decide which article from which website gets ranked highly. How Google measures EAT is a bit too complicated to get into here, but it’s still important to understand that Google values EAT highly. Much more highly than keywords!

Domain Authority

Domain authority is less about the EAT of your company and more about the trustworthiness of your website. Things like age of website (older is better), the quality of writing, other high quality sites linking to yours, and low spam scores all contribute to a site’s domain authority.

Here’s a quick example: The National Association of Realtors has been online since the mid-nineties and is pretty much the most trustworthy source for real estate information in the country. Therefore, Google ranks content from NAR very highly. If NAR decides to write an article on dual agency, chances are it will rank very well and very quickly.

Why These Real Estate Keywords Lists Won’t Work.

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Hopefully by now if you’ve been paying attention, you’re starting to realize that while keywords are crucial, ranking on Google is a lot harder than just having the right keywords. Believe it or not, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how Google picks search results. They even use artificial intelligence, and their exact criteria for ranking remains a closely guarded and always-changing secret.

Even if you are writing for a site like Zillow or Inman, your goal for your website is not just traffic. You only want relevant traffic that has the potential to convert into leads and deals. That means ranking No. 1 for a real estate keyword in Florida might get you some traffic, but it will be useless to you if you live and work in Michigan!

Don’t worry though, luckily you know us, and we have firsthand experience building huge six figure monthly traffic sites by ranking articles on Google … In fact, chances are you’re probably reading this because you found us on Google, right? 😉

DIY Keyword Research Tools You’ll Need to Find The Best Real Estate Keywords

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

OK, if generic keyword lists like the one above won’t help you rank higher on Google, how can you find the keywords that will?

Simple. With a lot of research, a lot of analyzing Google search results pages (SERPs), and a little luck, you’ll come up with a list of relevant and targeted keywords that you can use to plan the content you’ll create for an entire year.

Unfortunately, effective keyword research requires proprietary tools in order to get the best data quickly. Since Google doesn’t really publish their search criteria and only offers search volume for customers who buy their PPC ads, a handful of SEO software companies have swooped in to fill the void.

Here are the top three keyword research tools we use every day in order to plan our evergreen (traffic comes mostly from Google searches) content for the Close.

Ahrefs

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads - ahrefs logo

What it does: Search volume & difficulty, site audits, rank tracker + more
Cost: Starting at $99 per month
Ease of Use: Medium

Our first go-to tool for keyword research is Ahrefs. Ahrefs has very similar tools that competitors like Moz offer, but its data is a bit more accurate (according to our own research, that is). It also gives you questions people ask along with keywords.


Moz

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads - moz logo

What is does: Search volume & difficulty, domain authority, page grader, local market analytics + more
Cost: Starting at $99 per month ($79 per month paid annually)
Ease of Use: Medium

One of the earliest SEO tools, Moz actually invented its own domain authority metric which is widely used in the industry. You can also use Moz to find what other sites are ranking for, as well as who is linking to them.


SEMrush

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads - semrush logo

What it does: Competitor research, keyword analytics, backlink tracking + more
Cost: Starting at $99 per month
Ease of Use: Hard

SEMrush is the go-to tool in the SEO industry for spying on your competitors’ websites to see and track what keywords they rank for as well as getting lists of other sites that link to your competitor’s site. You can even set alerts, audit websites, and more.

Frugal Alternative: Hire a Freelance Keyword Researcher on Fiverr

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Why it might make sense: SEO software is expensive and takes time to learn and use
Cost for keyword research: $5-$150

Of course since writing evergreen content and optimizing it for Google is not your main gig, shelling out for expensive SEO software you don’t really know how to use might not make much sense. There’s also the fact that even once you’re an expert at the software, finding great keywords still takes a lot of time and effort.

By hiring someone on Fiverr to do your keyword research for you, you can get a simple spreadsheet of keywords and article ideas that will give you a road map for the year for less than the price of a month of SEO software. More to the point, the person you hire will probably find the good stuff much faster than you can.

Just make sure to ask them if they’re using the software listed above, and get a list of keywords with search volume, keyword difficulty, and maybe some lists of what keywords your biggest competitors already rank for.

Click below to head over to Fiverr and find someone to do your keyword research starting at just five bucks.

Visit Fiverr

How to Research & Find The Best Real Estate Keywords for YOUR Farm Area

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

OK, now that you have a better understanding of why generic lists won’t work and the tools you need, let’s take a look at finding and evaluating keywords to use for your blog.

1. Understand That The Days of “Tricking” Google are Long Gone

Before we get started, we have one more important caveat for you. While it might have been possible to “trick” Google by stuffing a bunch of keywords on one page, or ranking for keywords that are not real estate related, those days are long gone. Instead, focus on finding keywords that will get you local traffic, and will also be of interest to your potential leads.

2. Research Keywords Your Competitors Already Rank For (DIY or Freelancer)

The first step to doing keyword research is the research your local competitors. Are they ranking on Google for local keywords? You might be surprised to learn that many real estate companies, even very successful ones, don’t bother trying to rank on Google.

While you can always gather a list of keywords and run Google searches to see who ranks for which keyword, there is a much easier way to figure out what your competitors rank for: SEMrush.

All you need to do is plug your competitors domain name into SEMrush, scroll down to the ‘Top Organic Keyword” section, then click on “View Full Report.”

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Now you have a list of all the keywords your competitors rank for on Google. You can even sort by an estimate of how much traffic they get from ranking certain keywords, the article that ranks, and of course the search volume and difficulty rankings.

Once you have lists run for your competitors, you can either save as a spreadsheet or save in SEMrush. If you’re working with a Fiverr keyword researcher, be sure and ask for a spreadsheet like this from competitors.

One caveat here is that SEMrush’s search volume and difficulty ratings are not quite as accurate as Ahref’s or Moz’s. Since most hyperlocal keywords will only have a handful of searches per month, accuracy is pretty important.

3. Research All the Keywords You’ll Need for One Year of Content (DIY or Freelancer)

Fire up Ahrefs Keyword Explorer and start plugging in some general search terms about real estate, then try and drill down to local and hyperlocal searches.

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Ahrefs will of course give you pretty accurate search volume and keyword difficulty, as well as an estimate of cost per click for social media advertising, parent topic, related questions, as well as keywords using similar terms and SERP features.

Once you find keywords or groups of keywords that have relatively high search volume and relatively low difficulty, then save as a spreadsheet to use in Excel or Google Sheets, or save to Ahrefs as a keyword list. Just remember that hyperlocal keywords with search volume of only 20 or 20 searches per month might only get you 10 page views, but since these will be “down funnel” results (people who are closer to making a purchasing decision) that traffic will be worth its weight in gold. Even better, difficulty should be low enough that ranking quickly is possible.

What to Search Ahrefs for

One of the tricky things about Ahrefs is that the results you get back are only as good as the information you plug in. Here’s some tips for what to look for to get better results:

  • Hyperlocal keywords
  • Keywords that offer specific types of local property (waterfront, Victorians, etc.)
  • Common questions your leads ask
  • Real estate search terms + your farm area name
  • Instructional keywords (how to buy a house, how to get approved for a mortgage etc.)
  • Questions about your farm area
  • Questions about working with a Realtor
  • Questions about types of homes
  • Questions about common home repairs
  • Questions about home values and what affects them

If you’re working with a keyword researcher, ask them for keywords using similar criteria.

4. Research SERPs for Your Keywords (DIY or Freelancer)

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

While you should get this automatically when you run keyword searches in Ahrefs, sometimes you might want to check for yourself. One reason why checking the SERPs yourself is important is that Google changes its algorithm regularly, which might change who ranks for your keyword, or what SERP features there are like snippets, local pack, “People also ask” drop downs, videos, and more.

Search Intent

One thing you should pay particular attention to when looking at SERPs is trying to figure out what the search intent is for people searching for those keywords. For the most part, Google will try and rank articles, videos, or other content in order to provide the “best” answer to the question searchers are asking.

For example, if someone searches for “How to Market My House,” and you find lots of how-to guides on the front page, then it’s likely that searchers are clicking on how-to guides. If someone searches “Best Realtor in Los Angeles” then you’ll be more likely to find list posts. Take note of what kinds of articles rank well for your keywords, and remember to bookmark the top five to take a deep dive into later.

4. Plan Your Content For the Year (DIY)

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

OK, by now if you’ve followed along with our keyword research strategy, you should have a list of keywords with search volume and difficulty from Ahrefs, a list of what your competitors rank for and an estimate of how much traffic they get, as well as a basic overview of what kind of content is ranking for those keywords.

The next step is to sit down and prioritize the content you think will have the biggest impact on your audience. There are two main strategies for prioritizing content. Prioritize the content that has the highest search volume and lowest difficulty, or prioritize the content that is most important to your audience.

For beginners, we recommend prioritizing content that is important for your audience. You will probably not rank right way, but you can also blast this content out via email, social media, paid ads, etc.

How SEO Experts Use Real Estate Keywords in Their Content

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads

Of course even if you spent a ton of money or time finding amazing keywords, they will be useless for your business unless you know how to use them. While this topic will be covered in more detail in later articles, here’s a quick best practices guide for using real estate keywords.

Useful Tool:

Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads - Yoat WordPress login

Yoast WordPress plugin

What it does: Keyword optimization, schema data, robots.txt + more
Cost: $89 one-time cost for premium version (recommended)

1. Write for Your Audience First, Google Second

Always remember that your main goal here is to educate your reader first, and show up on Google second. In fact, if your article is spammy, it won’t rank on Google for long as Google regularly tests how many people click on articles on the front page and even how long they stay on the page. If everyone bounces from your article right away, Google will rank other articles above it.

2. Pay Specific Attention to Titles, Meta Descriptions & H2s

There are three key places you want to add keywords to your blog posts. In order of importance: The title, the meta description, and the H2s of your article. Try to use the keywords naturally in all three places. Don’t jam them into sentences or articles that don’t match the search intent of the reader you spent so much time researching in step 4!

3. Don’t Use a Real Estate Keyword For More Than One Blog Post

If you download the Yoast plugin for WordPress, this is one of the first warnings you’re likely to get. Generally speaking, it’s a bad idea to write more than one article targeting the same keyword. Even worse, NEVER try and rank subtle variations of the same keyword in different articles thinking you’ll trick Google. You won’t.

4. Avoid Keyword Stuffing

The idea here is to use keywords naturally in your articles which should give you something like a 1% keyword density. In other words, if your article is 100 words long, you should use the keyword one time in the body copy. As long as you have the keyword in the title, meta, and H2s, then you don’t need to worry about how many times you use the keyword in the body copy. Just use it whenever it’s natural to use it in a sentence or paragraph.

5. Remember to Include EAT Signals

Since you want your articles to signal EAT to Google, you should always include EAT signals in your articles. At a minimum, your WordPress author bio should have your credentials including designations, and you should quote and link to other real estate experts in your articles.

6. Link to Your New Blog Post From Older Blog Posts

Linking to your new blog post from other blog posts can help you rank better as it helps Google “read” and categorize the content on your site. This is another thing the Yoast plugin will recommend.

7. Review Keywords & Update Your Blog Post Once per Year

Finally, if you want to rank on Google long term, you’re going to want to update your blog posts at least once a year, more often for important pages. Go back and change the date, add relevant new information of news, and try and make your article more readable and useful for your readers.

Your Turn

What did you think of our guide to researching and using real estate keywords? Let us know in the comments.

The post How to Use Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads From Google appeared first on The Close.

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Best Real Estate Websites: Chime vs Easyagent PRO vs Real Geeks vs Boomtown! https://theclose.com/best-real-estate-agent-websites-boomtown-vs-real-geeks-vs-chime-vs-easyagentpro/ https://theclose.com/best-real-estate-agent-websites-boomtown-vs-real-geeks-vs-chime-vs-easyagentpro/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2018 10:07:48 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=827 Instead of a glorified brochure page, today’s real estate agent websites come with advanced CRMs, landing pages, multiple lead generation options, custom IDX, PPC advertising, and integrations with transaction management platforms like Dotloop.

The post Best Real Estate Websites: Chime vs Easyagent PRO vs Real Geeks vs Boomtown! appeared first on The Close.

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Instead of a glorified brochure page, today’s real estate agent websites come with advanced CRMs, landing pages, multiple lead generation options, custom IDX, PPC advertising, and integrations with transaction management platforms like Dotloop.

These sites offer new agents a turnkey solution that offers pretty much everything they need to get started generating leads online.

The only problem is that with so many options, choosing the platform isn’t easy. In order to make your life easier, we did an in-depth comparison of four of the leading real estate agent website options available today; Chime, Easyagent PRO, Real Geeks, and Boomtown.

Before we dive in, here’s a quick comparison of pricing and main benefits for each platform:

Real Estate Agent WebsiteBest ForPricing
ChimeBest looking websites$218—$338 per month
(+$218—$338 setup fee)
Easyagent PROBest lead capture $159—$259
(+setup fee)
Real GeeksBest for Teams$299 + $25 for each new agent
BoomtownBest for Brokerages$350—$999 per month
(+$199—$499 setup fee)

Best Looking Real Estate Agent Websites: Chime

Chime Full Logo
A Real Estate Operating System 

Offering a fully featured CRM, lead generation, an IDX website, and even basic transaction management, Chime is positioning itself as a “real estate operating system” offering almost everything an agent or team needs right out of the box.

Amazingly, according to users we spoke with, Chime manages to package all of their tools in a well designed, easy to use package that is very new agent friendly. Everything they offer looks great, is intuitive to use, and even better, comes with an actual app instead of a mobile website.

For today’s mobile only agents and leads, having an app that just works is a huge selling point. This will increase agent adoption, and help individual agents integrate the system into their daily workflow.

Pricing for Chime is also pretty reasonable for what you get. PPC advertising for lead generation is also fairly and transparently priced starting at $500 per month+ 15% ad management fee.

Gorgeous IDX Websites

Although many might disagree with us, we thought that Chime offers the nicest looking IDX websites of the four platforms. Layouts are clean and well organized, and best of all, great looking. Check out California’s the Boyenga Team’s site for an idea of what we’re talking about.

Unique Features:

Since most of the platforms offered somewhat similar functionality for their CRM and IDX websites, here are a few standout unique features for Chime:

Dialer

Chime’s dialer let’s agents click to call their leads as well as leave voicemails, send pre written texts and more. It even offers suggested scripts for reaching out to the leads it suggests for you every morning.

Transaction Management

Another cool feature Chime offers is transaction management. You can create custom automated workflows, store documents, team management tools, and basic accounting tools.

Chime also integrates with Dotloop if you’re already using Dotloop or plan to in the future.

Chime Pricing for Website & CRM (+onboarding)

 Professional AcceleratorEnterprise
Price $218 per month + $218 setup fee$338 per month  + $338 setup feeCall  
Discount10% discount for Professional package if paid for year up front15% discount for Accelerator package if paid for year up front15% discount for 10 or more seats

Chime Buyer Lead Generation ToolsChime Seller Lead Generation Tools
IDX WebsiteHome Evaluation Landing Page
Example Chime IDX websites:
http://janetbesheer.com/
http://www.bistateteam.com/
https://www.boyengateam.com/  
Example Home Evaluation landing Page:
https://www.morrisonteam.com/evaluation

Chime PPC (Pay-Per-Click)Lead Generation Pricing (They advertise on social media for you)

Buyer Lead GenerationSeller Lead Generation
16-20 leads: $500 per month +15% ad management fee6-8 leads: $500 per month +15% ad management fee
32-40 leads: $1000 per month +15% ad management fee 12-16 leads: $1000 per month +15% ad management fee
48-60 leads: $1500 per month +15% ad management fee18-24 leads: $1500 per month +15% ad management fee

CRM Capability and Lead Nurturing

ProfessionalAccelerator All above features+
Bulk email Round Robin and Blast
Bulk texting Action Plan Library
Custom sales pipelineSmart Dynamic Lead Scoring
Mobile CRMFull Funnel Business Forecasting
Automated smart actionsTeam Performance Analytics

Integrations

Mail Chimp, BombBomb, Zapier, Dotloop, Brokermint, Zillow, Realtor, Trulia, (Skyslope and ziplogix coming soon)

Customer Support/Training

Phone support: Monday-Friday 9-5 EST

Email: 24/7

Visit Chime

Best Real Estate Agent Websites for Mobile & Lead Capture: Easyagent PRO

easy-agent-pro-logo-Best Real Estate Agent Websites 2018: Chime vs Easyagent PRO vs Real Geeks Mobile First Design

One of the best things about Easyagent PRO is that their IDX websites are not only great looking, but have a mobile first design.

Fonts are big and easy to read, layouts make perfect sense on mobile, and everything just seems more mobile focused that the other platforms. It’s so mobile focused that some design elements look a little bit odd on a desktop.

Considering a huge number of buyers are switching their home search to mobile, this is hugely important.

Unique Features:

Done for you blogging

One of the coolest features that Easyagent PRO offers for the leadsites are “done for you” blog posts. The team at EAP will write two posts to your blog every week. For busy Realtors who don’t have the time or resources to blog, this is a great feature.

Automatic Text Followup

Using EAP’s Texty app, you can send automated text messages every time a lead opts in on one of your landing pages or lead capture form. Text messages are a great way to get your leads attention.

Unlimited Landing Pages — point and click editing

EAP also offers the ability to create unlimited landing pages with their point and click landing page creation tool. You can even add a tracking pixel to show ads to leads who didn’t sign up across the web.

Easyagent PRO Pricing for Website and CRM (+onboarding)

 LeadsitesLeadsites Plus
Price$159/month (CRM not included)$259/month (CRM not included)

Easyagent PRO Buyer Lead Generation ToolsSeller Lead Generation Tools
IDX website
Home valuation landing page
Example Easyagent PRO IDX Websites:
https://lasvegasrealtyreport.com/
https://bartleyrealty.com/
https://thejacobsrealty.com/
https://thejacobsrealty.com/home-value-analysis/

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)Lead Generation Pricing (They advertise on social media for you)

N/A

Features: CRM Capability (N/A) and Lead Nurturing

Automated text messaging

Integrations

Liondesk, Mailchimp, Top Producer, BombBomb, Hubspot, Realty Juggler, Follow Up Boss

Customer Service/Training

Phone: M-F 9-5 MST

Incredible training and “office hours”

Visit Easyagent PRO

Best Real Estate Agent Websites for Teams & Value: Real Geeks

Real-Geeks-Best Real Estate Agent Websites 2018: Chime vs Easyagent PRO vs Real Geeks Great Value for Solo Agents and Teams

Starting at just $299 per month for 2 agents and just $25 extra per new agent, Real Geeks is a great deal for growing teams. While Easyagent PRO comes in at a slightly more affordable $159, they don’t offer a CRM, and the site is designed for one agent only.

They also offer a ton of team friendly features like round robin lead assignment, idle lead reassignment, text autoresponders, and the ability to text with multiple leads in one window with auto replies.

You can send out a mass text, then carry on multiple text conversation from your desktop with those that reply.

Home Valuation Tool & Market Reports

Although the other platforms also offered variations of home valuation landing pages, Real Geeks is the only one to offer instant valuations. The other platforms just ask for leads to wait for a call or email from an agent.

This is important because many seller leads just want to get a quick valuation. They’re also perfectly willing to give away some contact info for that valuation.

However, many are not willing to offer contact information just so an agent can call them for a home valuation. Using Real Geeks, you can capture partial lead info, e.g. just an address that you can send postcards too.

The site will also create and send out market reports to nurture seller leads. Like Easyagent PRO, you can also create unlimited market reports.

Unique Features

Facebook marketing tool

Real Geeks Facebook Marketing Tool let’s agents easily and quickly create Facebook ads right in the Real Geeks platform. It helps agents create Facebook ads through their website, and also allows them to easily include a tracking pixel to advertise to site visitors across the web.

Idle Lead Reassignment

Another cool feature offered by Real Geeks is their idle lead reassignment feature. If a lead is assigned to an agent who doesn’t take an action in a specified time frame, that lead gets sent to the next agent in the rotation.

That means ALL leads in your system have a much better chance of being followed up with quickly. No more micromanaging. Just tell your junior agents that Real Geeks will reassign the lead if they don’t act.

Real Geeks Pricing for Website and CRM (+onboarding)

 1-2 AgentsAddititional Agent
Price $299/month (2 users incl.)+ $250 onboarding fee
+$25 for each agent

Buyer Lead Generation ToolsSeller Lead Generation Tools
IDX website
Market report drip emails
Home Valuation Landing Page (instant)
Example Real Geeks IDX websites:
http://www.thebarticgroup.com/
http://www.dallashomerealty.com/
http://www.chinattirealty.com/  
Example home valuation landing page:
https://www.hawaiianrealestate.com/cma/property-valuation/
Market report drip emails

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)Lead Generation Pricing (They advertise on social media for you)

Google PPC: Starts at $300 per month + ad spend

Real Leads Facebook Marketing: Starts at $300 per month+ ad spend

Features: CRM Capability and Lead Nurturing

Email & SMS notificationsPrioritize Leads' Motivation
Live FeedLead Scoring
Track Lead ActivityAutomated Email Drip
Email Integration and SyncEmail Blasts
Lead SMS AutorespondersSocial Profiles
Agent ActivityLead Source Tracking
Advanced Search FilteringEmail Templates
Agent/Lender Lead RoutingMobile Optimized
Idle Lead ReassignmentSMS Templates
Follow-ups and Reminders

Integrations

Zillow, Realtor, Bold Leads, Lion Desk, Zapier, Wise Agent, Dotloop, Mojo Dialer, Riley, Velocify

Customer Support/Training

Email and phone
8 am CST – 11 pm CST, 7 days a week

Visit Real Geeks

Best Real Estate Agent Websites for Brokerages: Boomtown!

Boomtown-Best Real Estate Agent Websites 2018: Chime vs Easyagent PRO vs Real Geeks Highly Flexible Sites for Brokerages

Designed (and priced) with growth in mind, Boomtown is a great option for larger teams and growing brokerages. Big names like Adam Hergenrother, and Pearson Smith Realty rave about the robust features that Boomtown offers their brokerages.

Unique Features

Agent subdomains

One of the coolest features Boomtown offers for teams and brokerages is the ability to create agent subdomains right from the platform. Being able to offer custom websites (on your domain) can be a huge selling point for recruiting new agents or team members.

Data gathering popups

Boomtown also put a lot of time, testing, and effort into creating popups that don’t just try and gather contact information, but useful data as well. For example, one popup discreetly asks site visitors for their time frame for buying a home.

This means more data to segment leads and less time spent qualifying leads. Instead, you can route leads to the right agent quickly and easily before they’ve been screened.

MLS Hotsheet

The MLS hotsheet is a feature that all CRM’s with MLS integration should offer. It shows your agents the “hot” new listings in the system that are getting a lot of attention. This means less time spent on your clunky MLS interface and more time in Boomtown.

Boomtown Pricing for Website and CRM (+onboarding)

 Launch GrowAdvance
Price1-3 agents: $750 + $750 onboarding fee 3-10 agents: $1500 + $1500 onboarding fee Price varies by number of markets

Buyer Lead Generation ToolsSeller Lead Generation Tools
IDX website Home Valuation Landing Page (limited)
Example Boomtown! IDX Websites
https://www.i35group.com/
https://jray.keatyrealestate.com/  
https://www.analuxuryhomes.com/
https://www.irealtyar.com/sell/  

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)Lead Generation Pricing (They advertise on social media for you)

15% of Marketing budget ($250 minimum spend, $750 minimum spend for AdWords and Social)

Features: CRM Capability and Lead Nurturing

Actionable InsightsLender Access
Hot Sheet with MLS UpdatesLead Routing
Smart Prospecting ToolsDrip System
Automated emails, textsMarketing Automation
Lead ScoringEmail Templates
Property AlertsEmail Templates
Predictive Intelligence
Listing Analytics

Integrations

Zillow, Trulia, RPR, Mojo Dialer, BombBomb

Customer Support/Training

Email and phone

8 am EST – 8 pm EST,
7 days a week

Visit BoomTown

The 30,000 Foot View

Choosing the right real estate agent website builder for you or your growing team or brokerage is not easy. However, most of the platforms on offer today offer something unique that might help you close more deals. Chime, Easyagent PRO, Real Geeks and Boomtown all offer a great combination of features at several price points.

The post Best Real Estate Websites: Chime vs Easyagent PRO vs Real Geeks vs Boomtown! appeared first on The Close.

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