Rightmove has been around for some time now, and really changed the game for estate agents, particularly small, independent agencies who would have been unlikely to compete with large branches on a wider scale. Whilst Rightmove and the other property portals can be highly accredited for bringing buyers and renters to your doorstep, unfortunately, they aren’t the holy grail. You can’t just stop the rest of your marketing activity and hope for the best.
If you believe that you don’t need an optimised website with updated content because ‘Rightmove’ finds the customers for you, you are wrong. Whilst Rightmove is amazing, it’s important to clarify why the opinion above may just be the biggest mistake estate agents are making this year…
- First impressions count
Although the first time the buyer sees your brand it may be from your Rightmove page, this doesn’t really give much of an impression. Sure, they see your logo but do you really think they’re interested in reading the entire history of your business? They will search for your website to get a better idea of who you are. Do you really want them to think you’re outdated? Or worse, leave your website because it’s too hard to navigate and doesn’t allow them to find the information they require.
- You’ll be isolating the sellers
Let’s just split your target market up into three; buyers, sellers and rental. Rightmove will do a great job of bringing you buyers and those looking to rent but what about sellers? Sellers first point of contact with you has got to be either your high street agency or your website. Considering how competitive the industry is, you don’t want to isolate yourself to footfall customers. Without the sellers, you won’t have buyers either!
- Key part of the wider marketing strategy
Think of your website as the foundation to build your marketing activity. Quality websites are easily editable so you can ensure your content is in line with your marketing. You will also have a blog or news section to update regularly to share engaging content with your target audience and position yourself as an expert and enabling customers and prospects to leave feedback and spark discussions on your page. Links to your social media channels will be present throughout your site and you will have a subscribe to mailing button to create new leads through email marketing.
- Look at the big players
You should always take inspiration from the big players in your industry. After all, they are the ones that have really made an impact and have the big budget to invest heavily in market research. If the big players are doing something, there’s an informed reason for it. They don’t invest heavily in the latest website and technology to show off and because they have nothing better to spend their money on, they do it because ultimately their website is contributing to their bottom line. Just look at EweMove… When they reinvested in their website earlier this year, in just one week, their lead enquiries increased by 58% on all platform and an impressive 96% on mobile enquiries.
- Websites actually work
As mentioned previously, businesses invest in quality websites because they will contribute to their bottom line. By setting up call to actions and data capture forms you can generate and convert leads using your website. You may not know a whole lot about SEO but all the extra traffic to your website from Rightmove and the other property portals is great for it, having an optimised, engaging website with the right user journey is a pure gold mine for any estate agents.
Solution? Check out our estate agent websites designs that get results.