January 24 2018
Every real estate agent should have a website, and a strong argument can be made that brokers should provide one for them.
Why? For starters, brokers protect their brand when they provide websites that are co-branded to both their company and to the agent. When colors, logos, navigation schemes, and other design elements are consistent across all of your agents' websites, it helps to reinforce your brokerage's brand to consumers and gives you quality control over how your brand is portrayed.
Additionally, co-branded agent websites benefit your company in the following ways:
They help tech averse agents. Let's face it, some agents that are uncomfortable with technology and would never set up a website for themselves. By creating a website for each of your agents, you are providing them with a valuable marketing platform. Additionally, because broker brands are typically more well-known than an individual agent's brand, you're offering your agents the benefit of being associated with a trusted brand.
You control incoming leads. By default, leads that come from an individual agent's site should go to that agent. However, not all agents are good at responding to leads. Because co-branded websites have a shared back end, you can see if the agent has responded, and if not, the broker can assign the lead to another agent.
They boost your SEO. With every agent website linking back to your brokerage's main site, you're enhancing your company's online visibility. Every link to your site is a testament to its "authority" and bolsters your broker website's SEO.
Over the next couple of days, we'll be taking a look at two different vendors that offer co-branded websites.
But first, to get a better sense of what we mean by "co-branded website," take a look at these two examples:
These websites are powered by WolfNet Technologies, a solution that appears in our 2017-18 Technology Guide. The sites are are built on Wordpress, an easy-to-use platform that many agents are already familiar with. This means that your or your agents can manage their site's content, or their blog, through Wordpress' intuitive interface. You can also tweak your site's design by customizing its Wordpress theme.
All of WolfNet's websites are mobile responsive and offer sophisticated IDX search capabilities with baked-in lead capture tools, but the most intriguing feature is the optional VOW data. This means that consumers who register on your website gain access to property informations, like sold data, that's not available on IDX-only sites.
WolfNet's websites also offer a backend with extensive reporting and lead routing capabilities. The sites work with CRM systems like Follow-up Boss, Contactually, Top Producer, RealtyJuggler, and more so that you can automatically funnel leads into your database and assign them to nurture campaigns.
WolfNet's co-branded agent and brokerage websites are standalone solutions that work seamlessly with your existing contact management program. Stay tuned until tomorrow when we'll take a look at a website provider that's deployed from your back office/intranet solution.
In the meantime, you can...