Responsive Websites for Real Estate

This post comes to us from BrokerageU:

Since the addition of smartphones, the entire world of websites has had to keep up. Initially, mobile optimization was easily the least important aspect of a website; however, this school of thought has recently shifted almost 100% in the opposite direction.

In the past there were two main choices for the presentation of your website: you would have your main web-ready site, and then another completely different site created for mobile. Next, there came the ability to optimize your main site for mobile, meaning that the user is able to navigate the site no matter what device they choose to use without getting a huge headache.

The feature that I'm really excited right now is the world of Responsive Web Design. You can begin to see these sites pop up in more and more places, including in the real estate industry. It is absolutely crucial for you as an agent to offer your leads and clients the most simple to use system possible. The goal here is to do whatever you can to simplify the way that prospects can search for homes and view listings in the shortest amount of time.

What exactly is a responsive website? It's one single platform that will tailor its performance to respond to its environment. The actual display and organization of the site content is completely dependent upon which device and browser size that the customer is using.

Studies show that 46% of mobile users report having difficulty interacting with a webpage – and 44% complain that navigation was difficult. A responsive site helps to ensure that users are more likely to stay on your site, rather than to give up and head to a competitor's. Responsive design also means one URL and one set of content, which makes site management and updates easier. It is also recommended by Google, meaning that it can be better for search engine optimization.

via Responsive Website Design – What is it? [INFOGRAPHIC].

Think about it, you have buyers driving around and pulling up the address of your listing on their cell phones (although, hopefully they're not doing both at the same time). If they do find this property on your mobile site, can they find an easy way to hop on over to your main website to search for more homes?

Typically, your mobile website will be issued its own domain name and run separate from your main site. Here's another scenario, let's say that your seller goes to pull up your website on their iPad after you have left your listing presentation. Will they have to continuously scroll in every direction to be able to access the full site which is larger than their screen? We are by no means taking a stab at mobile optimization; that is a must for your site now. But why not take your website to the next level?

Still confused on how it works exactly? You can visit the first responsive website that we created for TRIBUS Group. Take a tour around. Try changing the size and dimensions of your browser window. Do you see how the website appearance changes for the various common browser sizes: computer, iPad/ Tablet, Smartphone, etc?

We have drank the proverbial Kool Aid of responsive web and are now creating all of our brand new agent TRIpress websites on this exciting new platform. We can't wait for the release so that we can share more.

To view the original article, visit BrokerageU.