A professional real estate website can really make you stand out in the competitive real estate world. But did you know, having your own website is absolutely required if you want to be successful? Here are 9 reasons every realtor needs their own professional website and why.

It’s 2024 and there’s no excuse to not have your own website. They are a cost-effective, easy, quick way to level up your marketing strategy campaigns. A website will guarantee you come out on top in this competitive real estate market. Consumers have come to expect every business to have a website or landing page, and this includes realtors.

To understand why you 100% need your own website to be a successful realtor, keep reading.

What is the difference between a website and landing page?

A website contains many different pages including: an about page, contact page, blog, services page, FAQ, and more. It is comprised of several subdomains under a single domain - like the website you are reading this blog on. A landing page is a single page (domain) containing all relevant information on the one page. Comment below or contact me to learn more about these differences and the pros and cons of each.

1. Stand out from the competition, other realtors

Many real estate agents don’t have their own website or landing page - the idea that every realtor needs one hasn’t fully caught on yet. Likely, because most brokers provide agents with a profile page. However, if you keep reading, I explain why these pages just don’t cut it if you are looking for a competitive edge.

A professional and sleek website will ensure you stand out from your competitors. Every agent can benefit from the exposure, ability to increase brand awareness, lead generation, and reputability that comes along with having a custom website.

2. Showcase your real estate niche, brand, and personality

Having your own website or landing page will give you the opportunity to showcase your (1) real estate niche, (2) brand, and (3) personality.

Developing and specializing in a niche is the perfect marketing strategy to brand yourself as an expert and establish authority. It will also help you separate your target audience from your target market, which is crucial in developing a killer marketing strategy.

Having your own personal website means you’re in full control of your branding - putting you in the driver’s seat for managing how prospective and current clients see you. Selecting brand colors, fonts, imagery, logos, and more, will assist you in building a strong online presence that will make you unique and memorable.

Not to mention, you can let your personality shine through! There are more realtors than ever, meaning there are endless options of realtors for clients to choose from. Showing your personality is a guaranteed way to stay one step ahead of the competition and stand out.

3. Cost-effective marketing strategy

When you think of marketing, what do you think of first? I’m guessing paid advertisements. While this is the most obvious and traditional way to market, a more precise and cost-effective strategy to attract paying clients is SEO (search engine optimization). You can easily optimize your website or landing page with SEO to start generating more leads. A good SEO strategy will ensure you are easily discoverable on Google without having to pay for advertisements, which will save you a lot of money.

To learn more about SEO and/or featuring properties on your website, you can reach out to me here.

What if I can’t afford a website?

Modern websites are cost-effective to create and host. Experts like myself, who know the ins and outs of web design, can make a website for anyone on a tight budget. An inexpensive, but equally effective alternative to websites are landing pages. Reach out to learn how to get a website without breaking the bank.

4. Generate leads you don’t have to compete for with other realtors

Once you optimize your site or page with SEO, you will never lose a lead again. All leads will be pointed in the direction of your website, meaning all leads are your own leads. Realtors without websites rely on linking to a property or, worse, Zillow. By doing this, they leave the door open for other agents to snap up their leads. Having your own website means no longer competing with other agents on the same lead. The same applies for paid advertisements because your ads will lead all traffic to your actual website, meaning there is no risk of losing clicks to someone else.

5. Access to analytics reports

Having access to your own analytics reports that show you how people find, access, and interact with your online content is priceless. No realtor can develop an effective marketing strategy without the information found in analytics reports.

When you have your own professional website, you can easily access your analytics from several sources - the most important being Google Search Console. Analytics reports tell realtors which content drives the most traffic, what keywords people are searching, which pages were most visited and for how long, and other important information. These reports are necessary for marketing because they give real estate agents a better understanding of consumer behavior. Investing any money into marketing without your own website analytics is a critical mistake.

6. Build rapport with buyers and sellers

Another reason realtors need their own professional website is to increase brand credibility and public trust. By providing resources that educate buyers and sellers, real estate agents can attract their target audience and demonstrate their expertise. Resources can include: a mortgage calculator, community resources, red flags to watch out for when buying a home, a home-buyers checklist, and other valuable resources. Agents can also answer FAQs, host virtual tours, and advertise current listings. The opportunities of useful information you can host on your website is endless, and will supercharge your SEO when done correctly.

7. Limitless Marketing Opportunities

A good marketing strategy will make the most of your content through repurposing. Having full control of a website allows you to do this seamlessly. From content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, community engagement, and more, every single piece of content offers limitless marketing opportunities. Repurposing good content will prove to your audience that you are a reputable realtor.

For example:

• You publish an SEO blog article using the correct keywords and techniques to generate leads titled “7 things other real estate agents won’t tell you, but we will!”

• You promote this article on social media by creating:

  • 7 single graphics for each of the 7 points from the article

  • 1 carousel summarizing the article

  • Then you strategically post this content on every social media channel over the course of 2 weeks

• You then post ‘teasers’ which are short snippets and quotes from the article on your Instagram/Facebook stories, X (formerly Twitter), and threads to entice your audience to read your article

• You utilize backlinks and networking to drive even more traffic to your page

This is just 1 example of turning a single piece of content featured on your website (a blog article in this example) into an entire marketing campaign. By doing this you will save time, money, and energy. If this seems overwhelming, you can hire a professional to do it and focus your time and energy where it matters.

8. Make a great pitch by offering an extra complimentary service that costs you nothing

A great pitch will make or break a sale. Offering a complimentary service will set you apart from other agents and prove you go the extra mile for your clients. During a pitch, imagine telling a seller you can feature their home on your very own professional website. This will make them feel special because you will probably be the only agent offering this service. You can also use high traffic analytics and your ranking on Google as an additional selling point to entice sellers.

9. Change brokerages without the stress or expense

We saved the best for almost last. The most important of the 9 reasons every realtor needs their own professional website is that you control it, even if you change brokerages. You can’t take your free profile page/website with you if you change brokerages and it is extremely stressful and expensive to transfer all of the information to a new website.

If you have your own professional website, changing brokerages is easy and inexpensive - you will likely only need to change logos, your color scheme if you went with your brokerage’s color palette, and some copy.

10. Customers expect it

I know I said only 9 reasons every realtor needs their own professional website, but I couldn’t leave this point out. Customers expect every business to have a website - this includes real estate agents! Maybe you have gotten away without having one up until now. Perhaps you have utilized social media and other free mediums/services to market yourself. However, if this is you, you are missing out on A LOT of potential income and leads. It is no longer acceptable to not have a professional website or, at minimum, a landing page. They are cost-effective and quick to create, which is the reason why everyone has come to expect every business to have one.

Are you ready to stand out from other realtors and take your marketing seriously? Don’t miss your opportunity to generate your own leads with proper SEO, keep current and prospective clients up to date, and position yourself as an expert among your peers. You decide - do you want to be ahead of the competition or left behind while everyone snaps up your leads?

With the ease and cost-effectiveness of creating and hosting websites, there is no legitimate reason to not have one. However, there are lots of good reasons why you need one.

Your website/landing page should be expertly branded which can be expensive, but doesn’t have to be. Check out some affordable website and landing page options for realtors on a budget who want to get started today.