The Power of a High Functioning Website

This is a digital age, where the minute a prospective buyer learns of your name, they rush to Google to plug your name in--and what comes up will ultimately determine their next steps. Eighty-four percent of homebuyers use the internet as part of their home search, and you only get one chance at a digital first impression. So if your website is representing you around the clock, are you making it count?

Here are essential items to consider for an agent website that converts on its clicks.

The Bricks and Mortar of Credibility

Your website gives the digital opportunity to tell consumers why they should trust you in the form of a strong and clear value proposition. What makes you valuable to your audience? How are you different from your competition? "The core of your value proposition is made up of the ideas that make you clearly the best choice for people."

This also includes having testimonials readily available on your website to serve as a powerful business-building tool. These are some of the best credibility indicators in your real estate marketing arsenal—so have them displayed on your site to show what happy customers have to say about you.

Prospects are also looking at your top toolbar to see what kind of social media extensions you have, to evaluate where you're active and what content you're publishing on behalf of your brand. If the social media links connect to abandoned pages, it shows you don't put in the effort to connect with your audience on those channels, nor do you care to share valuable resources.

Compatible with All Different Screens

Remember Google's Mobilegeddon back in 2015? It wasn't done for fun—the mobile-friendly ranking algorithm was implemented to give a boost to mobile-friendly pages in Google's search results. It was done because more and more people were using smartphones and tablets as the primary devices to research and shop.

Telling a Compelling Story with Visuals

Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text, so it comes as no surprise that visual storytelling has long been a cornerstone to successful marketing strategies. Visual storytelling conveys a lot of information through a relatively simple visual aid and helps support your core story and what you stand for as an agent.

Consider this: when you're walking down the street and you see a billboard, what stands out more—a powerful image with minimal text or something that looks like a dissertation? You obviously choose the former. The same thing goes for your website. You may only have 5-7 seconds to capture their attention before they've clicked away from you, so pull them in with luxury-grade images.

Customizable, Creative and Clear

"Above the fold" is the upper half of a newspaper where the most eye-catching, prominent news is displayed. It's also what editors believe will help sell the most papers—the same concept is used in website design. The "above the fold" design should quickly and clearly answer the key questions every website visitor has, such as, "Who are you?" "What do you do?" and "What can I see/learn/do on this website?" Multiple calls to action are also important throughout the site, not just above the fold.

When evaluating your website and its content, ask:

• Is it easy to consume?
• Does it resonate with your audience?
• Is the copy crisp and to the point?
• Does it have clear calls to action?

By keeping these main criteria in mind, you can customize your website's look and content, page layouts, colors, banner images, and videos to mirror what customers crave.

Remember, sometimes less is more.

The Million Dollar Question: Can It Convert?

A high bounce rate means that visitors come to your site and immediately click away without doing anything else, usually suggesting that your website isn't optimized for conversion, there's poor design, or irrelevant content on the site.

Website visitors are can be very high quality leads, so you don't want to let them slip away because your website didn't do enough to capture their attention and sell them on your value propositions.

Having different lead capture forms for buyers, sellers, and home evaluations allows you to instantly harness visitors' contact information and receive an email alert each time you get a new lead to make sure they're properly segmented in your CRM. You can even auto-assign leads to a drip email nurture campaign and your automated monthly e-Newsletter to make sure you're nudging them in the right direction.

To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.