The Ultimate Guide to Building a Real Estate Website

Your real estate website is more than just
a website: it’s the most powerful tool in your
marketing arsenal. Look at any major brand
(real estate or otherwise) on Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Google+, or Pinterest: there’s always
a link back to their website. To be sure, social
networks are great for sharing your content
and engaging with consumers. But in most
instances, your prospective customers aren’t
discovering your business in these places:
they’re discovering you through search, and
oftentimes the ﬁrst point of contact they have
with you is your website.
Introduction
Chapter
1

3
As the hub of your online universe, your website serves a variety of purposes.
From instilling trust, to amplifying brand awareness, to nurturing prospective clients through your
sales cycle, a well-conceived, artfully-designed website can truly do wonders for your business.
Still not convinced that dedicating the time and energy to building (or improving) a real estate
website is worth it? Just have a look at the numbers...

If you’re like the majority of real estate professionals, you
already understand the importance of having a website.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®,
62 percent of realtors have personal websites for real
estate business purposes, separate from the websites of
their parent companies. What we can’t glean from this
statistic, however, is how many real estate professionals
have GREAT websites.
A great real estate website...
• is designed for SEO
• serves as a resource for buyers & sellers
• has IDX/MLS search built in
• encourages engagement
• captures leads
• positions your brand in a positive way
• showcases content your customers love
• has a beautiful design
5
62% of realtors
have websites

With so many real estate websites out there competing for attention, you want your site to stand out. You want your
site to be the one that folks take action on, not the one they overlook. This eBook is dedicated to showing you
how you can achieve those goals.
This eBook will show you:
7

• How to choose a domain name that drives trafﬁc
• Where you can buy a domain name
• Which website design solution is best for your business
• Best practices for real estate website design

• Why having a mobile-friendly site is a must
• How IDX/MLS integration works and why it’s important
• A list of popular IDX providers
• Best practices for creating content for your website
Next Chapter: What’s in a (Domain) Name? >>>

We hate to be the ones to break it to you,
but most prospective homebuyers aren’t
searching for YOU on the web: they’re
searching for properties. They’re not going to
Google (or Bing or Yahoo!) and typing in “Joe
Agent real estate.” Instead, they’re typing in
things like “Boston homes for sale” and
“houses for sale in Boston.” It’s not the “who”
that they’re focused on, it’s the “where.” So,
when choosing a domain name for your real
estate website, what kinds of search terms do
you think you should you focus on? If the word
“LOCAL” just popped into your head, you’re
100 percent correct.
What’s in a (Domain) Name?
Chapter
2

Of course, not all successful real estate websites follow
this location-based approach to choosing a domain
name. For example, Corcoran* (corcoran.com) and
Stribling** (stribling.com) are two of the most popular real
estate ﬁrms serving New York City, yet their website
domain names don’t mention location. Here’s the thing: if
you have a strong brand name - a name that is
recognized by thousands - you can certainly use that
name for your domain and still have a successful
website. But, when considered strictly from an SEO
perspective, it’s not ideal.
*It's important to note that Corcoran spends a signiﬁcant
amount of marketing dollars building awareness of their
brand and associating themselves with local, useful
content. (Just take a look at their efforts on Foursquare.)
**Besides the power of their brand in the upper echelons
of the power elite in NYC, Stribling has chosen to
differentiate themselves with magazine-class,
professional photography for every listing that they
showcase. As a result, they have some of the most
beautiful housing images on the web.
“If the URL for your name or the name of your
company is out there, you should definitely own it.
That being said, it shouldn’t necessarily be the primary
way people find your site...The fact is that while
existing clients might be able to remember your name,
it’s unlikely that anyone else will know the name of an
agent they have never met. More realistically, your
prospects won’t be searching for you. Instead, they’ll
be searching for what you have to offer.”
-Seth Price, Director of Sales & Marketing - Placester
10

1. Start with the location you want to target (e.g. Boston)
2. Add what you have to offer (e.g. homes for sale, luxury condos, etc.)
3. Do your research! Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to see how much monthly trafﬁc your search terms
receive (e.g. “Boston homes for sale, “Boston luxury condos,” etc.)
4. Choose a few of the highest-ranking keyword combinations, add “.com” to the ends, and do a quick search
to make sure they’re not already taken. Pro tip: if you’re having trouble ﬁnding available domain names, try
adding on a word that describes you or your brand. A great example of this is The Phoenix Real Estate Guy’s
domain name (phoenixrealestateguy.com).
11
A Step-by-Step Guide to Choosing
a Real Estate Domain Name

5. Head to a site like Valuate.com or EstiBot.com. Enter in your domain name candidates and you’ll get an idea
of how much each domain name is going to cost you.
6. Pull the trigger. Once you’ve decided on a search engine-optimized domain name that ﬁts your budget, buy it
from an online vendor.
Here are some of the most popular domain name vendor options:
12
• godaddy.com
• name.com
• namecheap.com
• 1and1.com
• sedo.com
• buydomains.com
• domainnamesales.com
• enom.com
• networksolutions.com
• register.com
• tucows.com
• domainnames.com

13
Domain Name Do’s and Don’ts
DO focus on local
And don’t be afraid to get creative. Add a bit of your personal brand to the local
search terms you’re targeting (e.g. PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com).
DO be speciﬁc
Lots of folks sell real estate in Boston, but far fewer specialize in selling luxury
condos. In this case, “BostonLuxuryCondos.com” would help you drive more
targeted trafﬁc than a more generic option like “BostonHomesforSale.com.”
DO act quickly
Once you’ve decided on a domain name, buy it right away and get it setup.
Google trusts older domain names more so than younger ones, so getting your
domain name in Google’s database as soon as possible will help with SEO.
DO make it easy to spell
Use the phone call test: call a friend, say your domain name out loud, then ask
your friend to spell it. If they struggle, you might want to consider simplifying the
name.

14
Domain Name Do’s and Don’ts
DON’T use hyphens
There’s no proven SEO value in using hyphens. Search engines can recognize
the individual words in “BostonLuxuryCondos.com,” so breaking it up into
“Boston-Luxury-Condos.com” will only make the domain name clunkier and
harder to say out loud.
DON’T make it too long
A short domain name is a memorable domain name.
“BostonLuxuryCondominiumsForSale.com” is an example of an overly long
name.
DON’T choose a “.net,” or “.org,” extension over “.com”
.com is popular, it’s got history on its side, and people naturally type it in when
they’re visiting a website directly (i.e. not searching).

If you want to learn more about best practices for choosing a real estate domain name,
check out some of the following resources in our Real Estate Marketing Academy:
• Guide to Choosing the Right Real Estate Domain Name
• Checklist for Choosing a Real Estate URL
• [Interview] Secrets from a Domain Name Broker: Choosing the Right URL for Your Website
Next Chapter: Diving into Design >>>
15

The look and feel of your real estate
website is critically important to its success.
Even with a great domain name that drives
tons of search traﬃc, a website will ultimately
fail if visitors aren’t engaged. Cluttered
headers, ugly colors schemes, confusing (or
broken) navigation links...these things can all
cause visitors to bounce from your site and
move on to the next option (the next option
being your competition!). When building a real
estate website, it’s important to balance art
with science. In addition to looking beautiful,
your site needs to perform beautifully so that
visitors are engaged and encouraged to take
action.
Diving into Design
Chapter
3

“I'm amazed at how a beautiful site can draw someone in - humans are visual creatures after all. But if
the site is too unwieldy, cumbersome, or filled with broken links, they're gone. The science in site
design should be about making sure it works, then using analytics to float relevant content to the top.”
-Nobu Hata, Director of Digital Engagement - National Association of REALTORS®
17

The majority of website design solutions belong to one
of two broad categories: custom or personalized. A
custom site is created “from scratch,” in the sense that a
web designer starts with a blank canvas and can build a
site according to a client’s precise specifications. In
comparison, a personalized site starts with a templated
design, which you can then add to and adjust.
There are benefits and drawbacks associated with each
option. With a custom site, you’re getting something
that’s entirely unique. However, you also have to dole
out a lot of dough for a web designer, and the design
process can take months. With a personalized site, you
can add your logo, change the color scheme, create
your own navigation links, and add widgets to sidebars
and other areas of your site. However, unlike a custom
site, a personalized site isn’t 100 percent unique, as
other real estate professionals may opt to build their
sites using the same template that you use.
One of the major benefits of a personalized site - in
addition to being considerably less expensive - is that
you can set it up yourself in a matter of minutes, which
is great if you want to get your online business up and
running as soon as possible. And while altering the
design of a custom site typically requires that you re-hire
(and re-pay) a web designer to make the changes, with
a personalized site you can make changes and/or
switch to a different template all by yourself.
18
Choosing a Real Estate
Website Design Solution

Popular Personalized Website
Solutions
For a non-industry-specific website solution, Wix and
Weebly are two of the most popular options. Both offer
free plans as well as premium plans that include
additional features and functionality. Shopify and
Squarespace are two of the leading personalized website
solutions for e-commerce sites. Both solutions let you
create online stores so you can sell to consumers
directly.
(Note: At Placester, we’ve taken the personalized
website solution model and have applied it to real estate.
Using the Placester platform, real estate professionals
can get WordPress-powered websites up and running in
minutes and then integrate with their MLSs.)
Personalized + Custom CSS
There’s also a hybrid option for creating a real website
that allows you to reap the benefits of both custom and
personalized solutions. Here’s how it works: you start
with a personalized solution and use that as your
website’s platform. Then, you work with a third-party
designer who can customize your site using CSS
(cascading style sheets), which is a computer language
that defines a website’s look and formatting. With the
hybrid option, you can get a more customized design
than you could with a personalized solution on its own
and it’s still less expensive (and faster) than having a
website designed from scratch.
20

Alright, so it’s not ALL in your header. You’ve also got footers, sidebars, and the main bodies of your webpages to
consider. That being said, visitors will naturally look to the top of a webpage ﬁrst. That means you need to have a well-
branded header that lets your visitors know they’re in the right place. Any confusion about what you’re offering (or
where you’re offering it) may cause folks to bounce from your site. In conclusion: weak header, weak website.
It’s All in Your Header
21

How to Build an Effective Header in 3 Easy Steps
Step 1: Start with your logo. Don’t have a logo? You can hire a designer to make one for you, or you can ﬁnd a font
and color that you like and make a simple, text-based logo yourself. There are several programs you can use to do
this: PowerPoint, Keynote, and Photoshop are just a few.
Step 2: Add a short description or tagline. Here are some real-world examples:
• Exceptional properties...exceptional results (My Hampton Homes)
• Finding NYC Apartments Just Got Easier! (Naked Apartments)
• The Evolution of Real Estate (Core)
• Phoenix Real Estate - Anything & Everything About It. Plus Random Musings... (The Phoenix Real Estate Guy)
22

Step 3: Add navigation links. Make it easy for visitors to get around your site and ﬁnd what they’re looking for by
including navigation links in your header. “Home,” “Search,” “Buy,” “Sell,” “About,” “Blog,” and “Contact” are some of
the most popular links for real estate site headers.
Bonus Step: Add social media buttons and contact info. It’s important to keep your header uncluttered so visitors
don’t become overwhelmed or confused. However, even after completing the three steps we just mentioned, there will
likely be plenty of space for adding other engaging elements. For example, having your email address and/or phone
number in the header makes it convenient for folks to reach out to you, as they won’t need to navigate to your contact
page to ﬁnd your contact info. If you have a presence on social media (which you absolutely should!), putting buttons
that link to your brand/company pages is great for encouraging folks to engage with you there.
23

Keep in mind that the steps
we’ve outlined are meant to serve
as a loose guide, as many
successful real estate websites
don’t include all of the header
elements we’ve mentioned. Some
sites - like Philip House - don’t
include headers at all and instead
rely on sidebars for displaying their
branding and navigation.
24

Just because it’s at the bottom of the page doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Your website’s footer is more than just a
container for copyright notices and credit links: it’s valuable real estate that you can use to drive engagement.
Some visitors will search diligently through your site and - inevitably - scroll to the bottoms of your webpages. By ﬁlling
your footer with attention-grabbing elements, you can make it easy for these folks to engage.
Fill Your Footer
25

Four Features of a
User-Friendly Footer
1. Navigation: Don’t make visitors scroll all the way
back up to your header so they can find what they’re
looking for on your site. Adding navigation links to your
footer helps eliminate scrolling, which is a major
convenience for your site’s visitors.
2. Contact Info: Just like you don’t want visitors
scrolling like mad to find a particular page on your site,
you don’t want them scrambling to find your contact
info. Make it as easy as possible for folks to contact you:
put your name, email address, physical address, and
phone number in the footer.
3. Social Buttons: Give your visitors every opportunity
to share your brand’s message and engage with you on
their social networks by putting Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest buttons in your footer.
4. Secondary Call-to-Action: While visitors might be
hesitant to give you their email address when they first
arrive on your site, after scrolling through some of your
content - and reaching the footer - they might be
convinced. That’s why the footer is a great spot for a
secondary call-to-action, such as a prompt to sign up for
a newsletter.
26

Of course, there are many successful real estate websites that don’t use all four of the
footer elements we’ve outlined. Furthermore, these four elements are by no means the
only elements you can include in your footer. Abbreviated “about” sections, agent
photos, and even videos have found their way into the footers of successful sites.
27
Shown above: footer from
the Core website homepage

A real estate website’s sidebar can serve a variety of
functions. From aiding in navigation to displaying
content, the opportunities are endless. That being said,
it’s important to think about what’s relevant to your
audience before you start ﬁlling your sidebar with
widgets and images. As a general rule, if an element
doesn’t add value to your site or help engage visitors, it
shouldn’t be in your sidebar.
A Brief Guide to Stocking
Your Sidebar

7 Sidebar Elements that
Serve a Purpose
1. Quick search
widget: A very
functional feature
that makes it easy
for visitors to dive
right into a search.
2. Recent listings:
Did somebody say
eye candy?
Highlighting recent
listings in your
sidebar can help
entice your visitors
to engage.
3. Featured blog
posts: Putting your
best blog posts on
display in your sidebar
can help you position
yourself as a trusted
resource.
4. Contact form: Never
miss an opportunity to have
your site’s visitors reach out.
Put a simple contact form in
your sidebar and prompt
visitors to send you a
message if they have any
questions.
29

5. Testimonials: By including testimonials from satisﬁed
customers in your sidebar, you’re letting visitors know
that you have experience. This social proof can go a long
way in developing trust amongst your visitors.
6. Contact info: Your contact info should always be
easy to ﬁnd, regardless of where your visitors are on your
site. Put it at the top of the page (in your header), at the
bottom of your page (in your footer), and in the middle of
the page (in your sidebar).
7. Social media widgets: Displaying the number of
Facebook “likes” you have and/or recent tweets from
your Twitter stream in your sidebar shows your visitors
that you have an active presence on social media. Like
testimonials, these widgets can help instill trust.
30

We’ve covered the tops, bottoms, and sides of a successful real estate website design. Now it’s time to turn our
attention to the prime real estate in the middle of a site’s homepage - that “center stage” that lives right beneath your
header. What do you put there?
Front & Center
31

Before we get into speciﬁcs, let’s establish what you
should be trying to accomplish with that space. A
successful “center stage” homepage element should...
• immediately capture a visitor’s attention
• highlight your brand and/or the area
you serve
• feature a call-to-action or other
opportunity for engagement
One of the most popular options for this valuable space
on your homepage is to embed a slideshow of photos.
The reasoning behind this choice is fairly obvious. For
starters, photos are visually engaging, which makes
them great for grabbing the attention of your visitors.
Second, by showcasing photos from the area your serve
- or photos that reﬂect the ambiance or feel of that area -
you can make it easy for visitors to understand what you
and your website are all about.
For example, if you sold homes in Cape Cod,
Massachusetts, your slideshow could feature photos of
beaches, cottages, lighthouses, etc.
Finally, by making your photos clickable or by overlaying
some navigation/calls-to-action on your photos, you can
use them to drive visitors to a listings search page or to
other areas of your site.
32

33
The most important thing
to remember when using a
slideshow on your real estate site
is image quality. A slideshow loses
its luster when photos are blurry,
pixelated, or otherwise distorted.
So while you may be tempted to
snap some photos on your
smartphone and throw them up
on your site, professional, high-
quality photographs are essential
for bringing your real estate site to
that “next level” of excellence.
High-quality photo of Boston (above); Low-quality photo of Boston (below)
GOOD
BAD

Another popular option for that center stage area of your homepage is a map. While it may be less visually
engaging or less beautiful than a slideshow of high-quality photographs, a map (as you might expect) does
a great job of highlighting the geographic areas you serve. Furthermore, by making different sections or
neighborhoods on the map clickable, your visitors can navigate directly to the places they want to explore.
34

Of course, there are many other elements that you can display front and center on your real estate site. The
Hawaii Life website, for example, has a slideshow of high-quality photos running in the background, and
then has a clickable map overlay on top. The result is both innovative and beautiful.
35

Just as a cluttered, confusing layout can cause visitors
to leave your site, so can an ugly or distracting color
scheme. Sure, color isn’t THAT integral to your site’s
success when compared to things like IDX and great
content (which we’ll discuss in chapters 4 and 5 of this
eBook respectively), but having a pleasant, agreeable
color scheme will only add to your site’s value.
Color Considerations
36

5 Tips for a Pleasing Website Palette
1. Start with your logo. Let your logo deﬁne the prominent color you use on your site. Have an orange logo? Use that
same orange hue for other elements on your site (example: the Unity Realty Group website).
2. Play with saturation and brightness. Using the exact same shade of a color EVERYWHERE on your site can get
a bit repetitive. To switch it up, keep the hue (tone of the color) the same, but change the saturation (intensity of the
color) and/or the brightness (amount of black or white in the color).
37

3. Use a complementary color. Even with changes to
saturation and brightness, a single-tone site can come
across as boring or uninspired. Incorporating a second color
into your site - one that doesn’t clash with your logo’s color -
can help add a bit more excitement to your site’s design.
4. Just don’t go too crazy with colors. The more colors you add to your site, the more likely it is that your site will
come off looking childish and unprofessional. Remember: the goal is to make your site vibrant and beautiful...you don’t
want it looking like the Crayola factory exploded on your homepage.
5. Pay attention to contrast: Just as using too many colors can negatively affect your website’s design, so can using
colors in the wrong places. As a general rule, always put dark-colored text on a light background and always put light-
colored text on a dark background. This contrast in color will make navigation links and copy easier to read.
38
Dark Text
Light Background
Light Text
Dark Background

Before we move on to the next chapter, we wanted to
touch on one of the more recent changes affecting real
estate website design: the mobile revolution. In case
you’ve had your head buried in a desktop computer for
the past ﬁve years, this is what you’ve missed:
Smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices are
fast-becoming the most popular means for browsing
the web and - more pertinently for you - for searching
for real estate.
A Quick Minute on Mobile
39

When it comes to optimizing a real estate website for
mobile, there are three main options to choose from.
First, there’s the mobile-only option, which is a mobile-
optimized site that is built separately from your desktop
site and that typically has some of the desktop site’s
features and functionality stripped out.
Next, there’s the mobile app, which is similar to a
mobile-only site - the main difference being that visitors
need to download it from an app store in order to use it.
Finally, there’s responsive design, which employs the
same architecture for both desktop and mobile. When a
visitor views a responsive design site on a mobile device,
the site automatically adjusts to ﬁt the screen size, which
means no loss of functionality and no downloading
necessary.
For a more in-depth look at mobile-
optimized websites and responsive
design, check out our eBook: Responsive
Design for Real Estate: How to Choose a
Mobile Theme that Drives Sales
41

To learn more about best practices for real estate website design, there are several
resources available in our Real Estate Marketing Academy, including...
• Guide to Choosing a Real Estate Website Solution
• Building a Real Estate Website? Know What It’s Going to Cost
• Real Estate Website Redesign Kit
• [Slideshow] Website Development Checklist for Real Estate
• [Infographic] The Anatomy of a Real Estate Marketing Website
Next Chapter: IDX Explained >>>
42

Let’s get right to the point: if visitors can’t
search for property listings on your website,
what reason do they have for being there?
Even with a great, locally-focused domain
name and a beautiful, easy-to-navigate design,
your real estate site isn’t going to be valuable
to buyers and sellers if it can’t pull listing data
from an MLS (Multiple Listing Service). An MLS
aggregates all of the property listings in a
particular area and stores them in a database.
And while you could search through that
database and add listings to your site
manually, there are several reasons why this
isn’t the best idea.
IDX Explained
Chapter
4

Why Manual Integration Stinks
For starters, manual integration is time-consuming: you
have to search through the database for each and every
listing you want to display and then copy each and every
bit of data associated with those listings. Furthermore,
because you’re cutting the data off from its original
source when you enter it manually, the listings on your
site won’t change when the MLS is updated. As a result,
keeping your listings up-to-date is virtually impossible,
since you’d have to monitor the MLS non-stop to check
for new listings.
So, how do you get MLS data onto your site quickly and
easily, without having to worry about out-of-date listings?
IDX is the answer.
IDX to the Rescue
IDX (Internet Data Exchange) is the exchange of data
between an MLS and a real estate website. In many
instances, “IDX” is used to refer to a speciﬁc technology
or solution for achieving that data exchange. Just like
Google crawls the web, gathers data, and then puts that
data in a searchable format, an IDX solution crawls an
MLS database, gathers listing data, and then puts that
listing data in a searchable format. With an IDX-powered
website, visitors can search an MLS on your turf, which
means they won’t need to go to a national listings site
like Trulia, Zillow, or Realtor.com to learn more about a
property: you’ll have everything they’re looking for.
44

iframe: An iframe, or inline frame, is an HTML element that lets you embed HTML
documents - like MLS search windows - on your website. Technically speaking, however,
an iframed MLS search window doesn’t qualify as IDX technology. This is because when
you use an iframe, listing data is never actually transferred from the MLS to your site.
Instead, the iframe just displays the listing data. Think of it like a projected image: The
actual image data is in the projector (the MLS), but people can see the image when it’s
projected on a screen (your website).
Unfortunately, while an iframe is super simple to use - you just copy and paste an embed
code to install it - it is a poor choice from a marketing and site optimization perspective.
Since there’s no actual transfer of data, your listings don’t show up in search results,
making it harder for people to ﬁnd you online. And because you have little control over the
look and feel of the iframe, there’s no guarantee that it will mesh with your site’s design or
match with its color scheme.
45
Types of IDX Technology: iframe

FTP (File Transfer Protocol): FTP is a standard for exchanging program and data files
across a network. Implemented before RETS (which we’ll talk about next), an FTP-based
IDX solution synchronizes your real estate website with an MLS database. Updates
happen at specific time intervals, such as once every 12 hours, meaning your listings
always stay relatively up-to-date. And because data is actually transferred from one host
(the MLS) to another (your website), the listings on your site show up in search results,
making it easier for potential customers to find you.
One of the downsides to FTP is that there are no set FTP standards amongst MLSs: each
has its own unique way of doing things, which makes the integration process both more
complicated and more costly in comparison to other options. And while FTP does
synchronize your site with an MLS database, updates happen less frequently - and less
efficiently - than with the more modern RETS standard. As a result, a RETS integration
yields higher SEO benefits.
46
Types of IDX Technology: FTP

RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard): MLSs nationwide are moving to adopt
RETS as the industry standard for IDX integration. In comparison to FTP, RETS allows for
simpler and less expensive integrations. RETS is also the better option for boosting your
“SEO juice,” as updates occur as frequently as once every hour. This means new,
searchable listings are constantly being added to your site. And unlike FTP, which
updates your site by re-sending all of the old MLS data along with the new data, RETS
just sends the updated data. This more efﬁcient data transfer process allows for a faster,
higher-performing IDX integration.
The one drawback to RETS is that - on its own - RETS data is essentially useless. In
order to deploy RETS data effectively, you need additional software or a trained
professional to make sense of it.
47
Types of IDX Technology: RETS

Choosing the Right IDX
Solution
It’s clear that RETS is the best option when it comes to
choosing an IDX technology. From a marketing
perspective, it offers better SEO beneﬁts than an iframe
or FTP, and it also provides the most up-to-date listing
data. From a user experience perspective, RETS is
faster, easier-to-use, and more customizable. It should
also be taken into consideration that of all the IDX
technologies available, RETS is the most widely used,
with approximately 80% of MLSs supporting it.
Once you’ve decided that RETS is the way to go, you’ll
next have to decide on an IDX service provider who will
transfer RETS listing data from the MLS database to your
website. There are many options out there and costs can
vary tremendously from provider to provider.
To help you narrow down your search,
we’ve created a list of some of the most
popular providers:
• Diverse Solutions
• IDX Broker
• Displet
• iHomeFinder
• Real Geeks
• Real Estate Webmasters
• Placester
49

Before pulling the trigger on an IDX provider, make sure you spend time reading the ﬁne print and understanding terms
and conditions. Some questions that you might want to ask yourself when evaluating a provider include:
• Does the provider cover the MLS integration fee (or do I)?
• Is there a mandatory minimum contract / subscription period, or can I cancel anytime?
• Is the IDX interface elegant, intuitive, and optimized for mobile?
• Are unique URLs generated for each listing?
• Can you customize search criteria?
• And last but not least, how much does it cost?
50

If you want to learn more about IDX, check out some of these resources in our Real
Estate Marketing Academy:
• Understanding Real Estate Listing Data: The Difference Between IDX and RETS
• Why Integration Is the Key to a Successful Real Estate Website
• Content Is King, Part 1: Foundation Content
Next Chapter: Creating Content >>>
51

By filling your real estate site with
searchable listing data, IDX is able to account
for the first half of a successful content
marketing strategy: namely, your foundation
content. Foundation content stems from a
company’s products and/or services and is
often the main reason why a consumer
searches that company out in the first place.
An online bike store, for example, relies on its
inventory of bikes as its foundation content:
Folks who are interested in buying bikes go to
the site to view product specs, prices, images,
and so on.
Creating Content
Chapter
5

As a real estate professional with an IDX-powered website, you’re blessed with having a continuously
updated stream of foundation content: MLS listing data. Once you have that IDX integration set up, you could
- theoretically - never change a single thing on your site again and still have a site with fresh, discoverable
content. And while it may be tempting to take this “set it and forget it” approach to your content, there are
several reasons why creating additional content can be beneﬁcial to your online success.
53

54
Building on Top of Your
Foundation
Your foundation content is a reﬂection of your product
offerings, as it shows your site’s visitors what you have
for sale. And since this content is supplied by an MLS,
you really don’t have too much control over it: you can’t
change or enhance the details of MLS property listings
(without being dishonest). What you can control,
however, is the context in which listings are presented.
If you think of foundation content as your product, you
can think of created content - the copy, images, and
videos that YOU produce - as your product’s packaging.
Created content allows you to supplement, enhance,
and highlight your foundation content, making the listings
on your site more appealing to potential homebuyers.
“Created content is as much about selling yourself as it
is about selling your product. Whether the information
it presents is useful, entertaining, provocative, or some
combination of all three, great created content will
show leads you’re worth paying attention to and
doing business with.”
-Seth Price, Director of Sales & Marketing - Placester

First Things First: Create Your
Permanent Pages
When visitors arrive on your site (and are pleased to
discover an intuitive MLS search window for searching
listings!), they’ll likely want to know more about you
before reaching out. After all, buying (or selling) a home is
typically the largest transaction of a person’s life, so folks
are going to want to know that you’re someone they can
trust before they decide to do business with you.
One of the best ways to build trust on your website is
through your permanent pages, which visitors can
typically get to via the navigation links in your header.
These pages are meant to gives visitors a sense of who
you are, what experience you have, what services you
provide, and what areas you cover. Keeping that in mind,
here’s a list of best practices for some of the most
popular permanent pages for real estate.
About
Every website should have an about page. This is the
space where you tell your visitors about you and/or your
company. For a personal realtor site, where you’re from,
where you went to school, and where/when you got
started in the industry are all relevant tidbits to include.
You might also want to include your personal mission
statement, any awards or accolades you’ve received,
and - for a bit of color - your interests and hobbies.
When creating an about page for a company with
multiple employees, the copy should be more team-
focused and emphasize the values and goals of the
company as a whole.
55

Services
Instead of getting into the nitty gritty of the services you
provide in your website’s about page, create a separate
“services” page where you can go more in-depth. Many
real estate professionals divide their services into
different sections (buy, sell, rent, etc.) and then create
separate pages for each. A buyer’s page, for example,
provides information that is speciﬁcally geared toward
prospective homebuyers, such as how your knowledge
of the market can help buyers get the best deals, or how
your innovative approach to purchasing can simplify the
process.
Neighborhoods
Creating a page (or pages) for highlighting the areas you
cover is a great way to position yourself as a local expert.
From a copy standpoint, schools, parks, restaurants,
and local attractions are all great things to write about.
But don’t limit yourself to words: including maps and
photo galleries can help give your site’s visitors a better
taste of the local ﬂavor.
56

By now, many real estate professionals know that they should be blogging on their site AT LEAST a few times per
month - the more frequently, the better. It’s become clear that the beneﬁts of blogging deﬁnitely outweigh the time and
energy it takes to craft and publish posts.
Blogging for Real Estate 101
57

For those real estate professionals out there who are still unconvinced that blogging is worth it, let’s quickly go over
some of the main beneﬁts of blogging for real estate.
• Trust-building: When visitors can see that you’re actively authoring and updating content on your site, your site
seems more legitimate and trustworthy.
• Positioning yourself as an expert: A thoughtfully researched, well-written blog that adds value to prospective
homebuyers, sellers, and renters will help folks identify you as an expert in the space.
• Boosting your “SEO juice”: Search engines love new content. Every time you publish a new blog post, you’re
creating a new page that search engines can index (as well as a new page that a prospective client can discover
during a search).
• Increasing your social presence: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest shouldn’t just be channels
for sharing your listings - they should be channels for sharing your knowledge. When you have a regularly updated
blog, you have a wealth of content that you can share.
Once you’ve decided to start a blog on your real estate site (good call!), a big question will likely begin to loom over your
head: “What the heck should I write about?” The short answer: You should write about topics that your prospective
clients will ﬁnd valuable. Try putting yourself in your clients’ shoes: What problems are they facing? What are they
confused about? What questions do they have? The goal of your blog should be to solve their problems, alleviate their
confusion, and answer their questions.
58

5 Topic Ideas for Your Real
Estate Blog
1. Industry insight: Keep your prospective clients
informed of the latest studies, surveys, and stats with an
industry-focused blog post. Make sure
to add context: don’t just copy
and paste data into a post and
hit publish - explain what the
data means and why it’s
important.
2. Homebuyer how-to: Help prospective homebuyers
prepare by giving them a step-by-step guide on how the
buying process works (cleaning up your credit, getting
pre-approved, ﬁnding your price
range, etc.). Given the broad
nature of the topic, you could
easily split this up into several
posts.
3. Tips for sellers: Help sellers prepare
their homes for sale with some expert
tips and tricks. Home improvement,
staging, appraisals, and pricing are all
great sub-topics you could explore.
4. Local lowdown: Further prove your
chops as a local expert by writing about
your “adventures” around town. From
reviewing a new restaurant to documenting
your day at the park, your blog is a great
place to put your knowledge of
neighborhood happenings on display.
5. Property promotion: While your blog
should primarily serve as a resource, don’t
be afraid to use it for promoting new or
special properties you have in your
inventory.
59

Of course, your blog (and other site pages) shouldn’t
be limited to text: graphics and photos are incredibly
valuable when it comes to attracting attention and
enticing your site’s visitors to engage. In addition, you
can share the graphics and photos you create on sites
like Pinterest, Instagram, and Flickr to increase your
site’s social presence.
Pixel Perfect:
Creating Visual Content
60

Here are a few examples of how you
can use visual content on your real
estate site:
Neighborhood scenes: Take photos
of all of the cool places in the
communities you cover and weave
them into your blog posts and/or
neighborhood pages.
Eye on architecture: Head back out
into the community with your camera,
but this time focus on the different
house styles you see. You can
incorporate the photos you take into a
blog post (or page) on local
architecture.
61

Oﬃce antics: Take photos of your
bustling ofﬁce so visitors can see you
in action. If you work with a team of
employees, make sure to include
some group shots. You’ll also want to
take individual headshots so you can
set up a “team” page. It’s amazing
how powerful these photos can be
when it comes to “humanizing” your
website.
Slideshows: With a program like
PowerPoint or Keynote, you can
quickly and easily tell a visual story
through a slideshow. Whether you’re
sharing market data or providing a
how-to guide, a slideshow offers a
more interactive alternative to a
traditional, text-based blog post. Best
of all, you can use SlideShare to
embed and share your slideshows.
62

Video is increasingly becoming an important aspect of
successful content marketing strategies. This is
especially true for real estate, which is an incredibly
visual industry that deals in physical, three-dimensional
spaces. And while you can certainly be successful
sticking to text, photos, and graphics, creating video
content can help you get an edge over your
competitors. In addition to simply embedding video
content on your site, you can share it through social
channels like YouTube and Vimeo to help increase your
online presence.
Lights, Camera, Action:
Creating Video Content
63

Here are a few example of how you
can use video content on your site:
Property tours: A picture’s worth a
thousand words, but when it comes
to getting a sense of the layout,
sound, and feel of a property, video is
deﬁnitely better.
Neighborhood tours: Why stop the
camera rolling once you step
outside? Shoot some video of the
property’s exterior, then take a stroll
(or drive) so you can give prospective
buyers a feel for the culture and
character of the neighborhood.
64

VIP interviews: Find local business
leaders, politicians, school principals,
and other notable residents for some
on-camera interviews. Have them talk
about the area, what’s special about
it, what their favorite local restaurants
are, etc.
Testimonials: You’ve made many
clients happy over the years - why
not ask a few of them if they’d be
willing to go on camera and talk
about their experiences working with
you?
65

Regardless of the types of content you choose to
create, coming up with a content schedule - and
sticking to it - will do wonders for your productivity.
Start small: if you’ve never blogged before, aim for two
posts a month (one post every two weeks) and make
sure you set aside time on your calendar to brainstorm
and execute. Don’t assume you’ll remember: write it
down! The toughest part of content marketing isn’t
getting started - it’s keeping it going.
To help you stay on track, we’ve created a content
marketing editorial calendar speciﬁcally designed for
real estate professionals.
Sticking to a Schedule
66

If you want to learn more about content marketing for real estate, check out some of
these resources in our Real Estate Marketing Academy:
• Content Is King, Part 2: Created Content
• Guide to Creating Killer Content for Real Estate Marketing
• 10 Ways to Build Links with Your Real Estate Marketing Content
Next Chapter: Conclusion >>>
67

Your real estate website is the most
powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. Just
remember that it isn’t something you “set and
forget.” After choosing a domain name,
perfecting the design, and integrating IDX,
you’ll need to produce content and update
your site regularly in order to stay competitive.
You’ll also want to measure the performance of
your site, which is something we explore in-
depth in our eBook, An Introduction to Google
Analytics for Real Estate.
Conclusion
Chapter
6

And remember, this guide is a starting point: if you really want your real estate site to stand out from the
competition, you need to keep innovating. New tools and technologies are always popping up. Staying
abreast of the latest breakthroughs can help you stay on the cutting-edge.
“There are only so many ways you can take the same information and make it ‘prettier.’ So knock it
off. Stop taking the easy way out and reproducing what your competition is doing, and instead do
what they're NOT. Be original.”
-Nobu Hata, Director of Digital Engagement for the National Association of REALTORS®
69

Books
• Real Estate Rocket Fuel: Internet Marketing for Real
Estate for the 21st Century and Beyond. Mike
Carraway. May 21, 2012.
• The Ultimate WordPress Real Estate Website. Jim
Kimmons. Sep 23, 2012.
• The Constant Agent: 32 Proven Real Estate Marketing
Ideas to Build into Your Business Daily. Linda
Schneider. Nov 14, 2012.
Articles
Best Practices for Real Estate Websites. Julie Collins.
Sep 21, 2011.
Best Practices for Your Real Estate Website Homepage.
Stefanie Hahn. Feb 2013.
Guide to Real Estate SEO. Emily Cote. July 3, 2012.
How To Set Up Your Very Own Real Estate Website.
Frank DeFazio. Jan 18, 2013.
70
Further Reading

Contributors
Seth Price: Director of Sales & Marketing - Placester
Seth has a rich and diverse background spanning various industries, both online and off, and
is a veteran relationship builder, innovator, and thought leader. In particular, his experience in
real estate allows him to uniquely navigate the ambiguous facets of our space, creating value
for customers and clients.
Nobu Hata: Director of Digital Engagement - National Association of REALTORS®
An industry veteran since 1996, Nobu is a student of marketing, communications trends,
social media, and technology in the real estate industry. He speaks from experience
researching, implementing, and adapting various new school techniques to his brick and
mortar business.
Chris Smith: Co-founder - Curaytor.com
Chris is a highly sought after consultant, speaker and blogger in the real estate space. He co-
founded the award winning blog Tech Savvy Agent, served as chief evangelist for Inman
News, and was named the most inﬂuential person in the real estate industry.
71

Thank You!
Thanks for checking out our Ultimate Guide to Building a Real Estate Website eBook. For
more insight into the world of real estate marketing, be sure to visit our Real Estate
Marketing Academy.
Looking to set up a new real estate website with built-in IDX/MLS search, premium
themes, and indexable property pages? Head to Placester.com and get started with a
15-day free trial.
72

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