Being a one-person crew – commercial real estate agent or broker – ain’t easy. You are on your own for everything! Including building a website. There’s no time to do a study and thesis on website design theory, instead, let me give some basic tips on how to make your single broker or agent commercial real estate website successful!
1. Logo. If you don’t have a logo, consider having one made. Your website will pull most of its look and feel directly from the style and color scheme of your logo. Plus, once you have one, you can make business cards, flyers, etc. a little more professional looking.
2. Design Ideas. It’s best to come to a designer with a few examples of your favorite websites. These can be your competitor’s websites or sites you’ve come across and enjoyed. (I once had someone ask me to make their website look like AirBnB!) With a few examples in their hands, a designer can then start planning their basic design.
3. Content. Most website designers will use the “Lorem ipsum…” to fill in the content. Consider taking the time to write your content before starting the process. (I provide content with my website design services!)
4. eBook. This is a long article you’ve written about a subject your target market would like to read. You’ll use this as a Lead Generator – requesting contact info in exchange for the free PDF. I provide several pre-written ebooks with your commercial real estate website package.
5. Picking a Designer. Personally, I suggest staying away from residential designers. You’ll have a website full of kitchens and smiling families holding keys. Always remember, you get what you pay for. Beware of the $100 website designer. I provide website packages including Bargain, Custom, and Lead Gen for commercial real estate.
6. Listings. Listings are a great way to pull more activity on your website. Whether you are integrating with a service like LoopLink or using my CRE Listings Plugin, showcasing your listings is an excellent way to bring in traffic and increase website leads.
7. Special Effects. Images that do animations on roll-over, flip-boxes, slideshows, or informative videos need to be discussed with your website designer. Sometimes, additional programmers need to be hired to get some custom effects created.
8. Back-end Access. Every website designer should be able to give you full admin access of your website. Even if it’s hosted on their server.
9. Hosting / Edits. Monthly charges for hosting, updates and edits can keep your website running well and hacker free!
10. Tracking Visitors. There are lots of options for this, but be sure your website designer sets up Google Analytics for full tracking and monitoring your website traffic and conversions.