Common Problems with Commercial Real Estate Broker Websites

All too often you see very poor commercial real estate broker websites and an obvious disregard for upgrading them to the requirements of today’s on-line marketing.  Perhaps the problem is due to the brokerage not fully grasping the technicalities or the skills; either way a poor real estate website has a damaging effect on market share and in attracting listings.

A website for a commercial real estate business is almost like the front ‘door’ of a traditional office.  Every day the ‘door’ needs to be open and the entrance way prepared for the best impression.  Everything on the site needs to look good and function well.

A website for a broker or agent should be constructed with a few key facts in mind.  Consider these questions:

1. How should your branding material be integrated into your site?
2. What is the main message that the site should convey?
3. Where is your market and how should that be integrated into your main website?
4. How will you collect names and email addresses from your website and what will happen beyond that point?
5. How can you adjust your website quickly and effectively?
6. How will you optimise your site for the search engines and also for visitors?

It is a fact that most brokers and agents know very little about website construction and internet marketing; you can include search engine optimisation in those assumptions.  That is where most problems and challenges start.  The critical part of property marketing for the real estate business is a very big ‘grey area’.

This problem area should be handled with great care and focus by the brokerage.  A poor website will damage business and listing opportunities significantly.  When in any doubt, seek specialist help from ‘those that know’.

Here are some of the common issues with websites for real estate brokers:

1. Lack of regular updates relative to the market and industry will make your website very ‘ordinary’.  Don’t just load listings into a website.  Provide information about your town, city, industry, and property speciality.  Do this on a regular basis.  That will help your search engine profile.
2. Failing to install a ‘blog’ structure into your website will restrict search engine interest.  Blogs are one of the easiest ways to attract search engines; that being said you do need to regularly load information into them.
3. Old listings and redundant contact detail will frustrate visitors to the site.  If you are going to have a website, make sure that it is up to date in all ways.  Make it easy to change and load information.
4. Integrate social media channels into your website.  Set up your business channels for social media interaction.
5. Use professionally taken photographs with all of your listings.  It will send the best message possible regards your listings and professional services.
6. List your website with the search engines using the key words that are applicable to your industry, location, property type, and services.  Research those keywords so you choose the right ones.

This simple list is just the start of the process.  From here onwards you should adopt a ‘learning’ and ‘improvement’ process with your site.  Send the best message possible about your professional real estate services by having a top quality internet presence.