How to Choose the Best Real Estate Website Builder

Why are real estate websites important?

In lead generation, real estate website builders offer different features and pricing structures for real estate agents.

There are many features available on different real estate websites, so it can be overwhelming to compare them.

The good news is that you don't need all the features. There are some fundamental things that are essential to keep in mind for your website.

Below is a list with their descriptions:

1. Access to IDX Listings & MLS

Internet Data Exchange (IDX) is a term used to describe how property listings are displayed on websites. With IDX, you can integrate listings from the MLS database on your website.

Basically, IDX creates a connection between your own branded real estate website and the MLS.

IDX allows property listings to be updated every few hours, meaning visitors always get up-to-date information about what listings are available at any given time.

Sites like Zillow don’t use IDX, instead opting for things like brokerage syndication, which means their listings aren’t as accurate.

Because the data is constantly flowing in, IDX keeps your site current all the time – so you can spend less time website building, and more time selling real estate.

This is the reason real estate agents need specific real estate website builders vs. general tools meant for other industries.

If you don’t have IDX capabilities, you won’t have the competitive edge that accurate data can bring. Most website builders have this in real estate, but not all – make sure you’re choosing one that does so you can take advantage of all IDX offers.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You want to make sure that prospects who are unfamiliar with your business can easily discover you through a Google search for “real estate agent [in your local area].

Recognizing that more than 1/3 of online visits start with a search engine, your goal is to secure a prominent position on Google’s results pages.

Achieving this requires a website builder equipped with robust SEO capabilities and/or applications designed to increase your online visibility.

3. Lead Capture & Nurture

The biggest advantage of having your own branded real estate website is your ability to convert visitors into potential leads by capturing contact information in a lead form.

Lead capture tools like landing pages and capture forms encourage prospects to leave behind their names, phone numbers, and emails.

It looks a lot like pop-ups that you may have seen on retail websites that prompt you for similar information.

The website builder you choose should allow you to customize these lead captures so you can gather the information you’re most likely to use.

Strategies for capturing these leads will vary from agent to agent.

You may prefer persistent lead captures that regularly prompt visitors to share contact info, or you may err on the side of a more relaxed approach.

Whatever strategy you opt for, you should be able to adjust accordingly.

Even if you have a mix of leads coming in, and pay for the best lead gen for realtors on the market, it means nothing if you aren’t finding ways to create follow-up opportunities.

4. Help & Support

Having an excellent website builder is useless if you don’t know how to jump over technical glitches.

There’s no doubt you will at some point encounter an obstacle, and you’ll want to have accessible assistance to help you out.

A dedicated support team distinguishes website builders from CMS platforms such as WordPress.

This is frequently overlooked or underestimated until you need to confront a significant roadblock.

If you’re looking for extra support, opt for a real estate website builder that offers a range of real estate templates for you to choose from.

This can be a lot easier to use than uploading a template from a third-party site. The right tool should make customizing these templates painless so that you can add custom branding.

Most website builders offer additional support in the form of video tutorials or extensive customer support.

If this is your first time creating and maintaining a website, opting for services with these features may be a smart move.

5. Images & Videos

As a real estate professional, you understand the critical role images play – recognizing that they can be the deciding factor between your phone ringing off the hook, and a property remaining unoccupied for an extended period of time.

Our goal is to spotlight website builders that truly empower your images to stand out, along with any video tours you may provide.

6. CRM integrations

Having the best real estate website in your area isn’t enough. As a real estate professional, you probably know all the advantages using one of the best real estate CRMs can bring to the table.

It’s a central hub to store prospect data, track customer interactions, and share that information with business partners.

When you integrate your real estate CRM with a Content Management System (CMS), functionality becomes seamless.

A CRM integration can help you improve the buyer and seller experience and target follow-ups to leads. 

Combining your customer data from a CRM with your real estate website’s analytics tools is a gold mine for creating selling opportunities.

Plus, by keeping all of your data in one place, you reduce the time you would otherwise need to maintain both services.

You probably already have a CRM that you like.

To make full use of it, make sure that your website builder integrates with the CRM that you use to store customer data, otherwise, you may have to use two different services.

These are the basics of growing your real estate business. In other words, it is impossible to have the best real estate website without identifying and putting these factors into practice.