The highly interactive nature, amazing reach, and dynamism of web portals have influenced all types of businesses including real estate.
The real estate sector has seen huge growth, both from individual customers as well as from businesses to buy, rent, sell or lease properties.
A web portal with a robust and attractive design and filled with relevant information is an ideal solution that addresses the needs of both the customer segments of the real estate sector.
Are you a real estate agent or a firm that deals in real estate?
If you are, then developing a website or redesigning your existing one is the fastest way to reach your target audience.
In this article, we share with you key elements that are necessary for a successful real estate portal.
Before we get ahead with the essential features of real estate portals, we highly recommend you check the top real estate portals in USA.
By referring to these portals, you will have a better understanding of what leading real estate portals are providing and what are the current market trends in the real estate industry.
10 essential features for your property listing website
You must keep in mind that customers have become highly tech-savvy.
They are also very choosy in regards to where they are getting information from online sources.
In such a scenario, the only way to win their trust and find favour with them is through a highly attractive web portal with relevant information.
For your real estate portal to succeed, it must be highly engaging, should have inbuilt SEO features and address the need for both the buyers as well as the sellers.
Let us share with you the 10 best features that would not only make your website distinct from your competitors but also help you in attracting new customers and retaining the existing ones.
Video
As the old saying goes, “seeing is believing” is true for anyone who is looking to buy properties.
Nowadays, customers are not satisfied with a single picture of the property.
They want to feel how it looks in real life. To help them in this, you can post professionally shot videos that are not only engaging but also informative.
A virtual tour of the property would help in creating a good first impression, which will have a positive impact on their ultimate decision to buy the property.
Well researched information
Buying a property is a huge investment decision for the customers, for which they need accurate information.
Your website should be designed in such a way that the customer can easily find out any information they want of any property that is listed on your website.
Your website should have filters and advanced search features that would allow the visitor to quickly find the property they are looking for without much hassle.
If you fail to make your website easily navigable and search friendly, then the customer will move to one of your competitor’s websites.
Images
A website wherein all the information is displayed in the drab text is a major downer and the viewer will not find it interesting.
You should put images of the listed properties along with the information to make the content more attractive.
However, make sure that when you are including a gallery of images on your website it should not hinder the website’s loading speed.
Great design
One of the best ways to attract your audience is to focus on attractive web design.
An attractive UX allows you to initially connect with the customer and make them stay longer.
A great web design should have prominently displayed CTAs, menus, links, and other items.
Furthermore, make sure that the design of the website is enhanced with beautiful themes.
Google map
When a viewer clicks on a website to research different properties, then they want to know where these properties are located.
You should integrate Google map with your real estate website to make it more search-friendly for the viewer.
Adding the Google map in your real estate website will also enhance the website’s visibility on the SERPs.
Information regarding amenities
To highlight the listed properties in your website, you should also include information about any on-site amenities that these properties offer.
These amenities can include a swimming pool, proximity to the commercial area, school, hospital et cetera.
Front end listing
When you are developing the website for your real estate company, you should make sure that it earns revenue.
This can be done if the users who are looking to sell, lease, or rent their properties can list them on your website.
This feature can help your website to get more traffic that in turn can improve its search engine ranking significantly.
Social media
You should link your website with some of the popular social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter et cetera.
This would help the visitor to share the property listing as well as any information related to them on their social media accounts.
As more and more people share your webpage link to their social media account, it would not only increase the popularity of your website but also have a positive bearing on your search ranking.
Blog
You should also post highly engaging blogs on interesting topics related to the real estate sector.
This will help the viewer get a deeper understanding of the real estate market.
This also plays a positive role in improving web traffic as well as search engine ranking of your website.
Mobile friendly
A large number of customers use their smartphone to browse the Internet.
It makes sense to make your website mobile responsive so that your potential customers can seamlessly access the information on your website from multiple devices.
Conclusion
The features that we have mentioned in this article can be immensely helpful in improving the user experience.
Additionally, make sure that your website is scalable so that you can include new features as and when they come on the market.