One of the first things most new businesses do is build a website, and real estate investing is no different. A good website gives you a real advantage over your investing competition. It is not enough, though, to throw a few pages together and wait for traffic to roll in.
Your website needs to strike a balance between generating traffic and showing your personality. It should act as a business card for potential partners while educating everyone who visits. A good website can help you gain a partner or secure a deal. A poor one shows you in a negative light and can make you and your business look dated.
If you’re thinking about what to do with your website, here are five must-haves to consider.
Start with a plan
Even if a website is low on your list of priorities, you need to give it some thought. You have plenty of options for layout, color, content and design. All of that matters, but you can let a professional web designer handle it.
What you need to decide is what you want out of the site:
- Are you looking to generate leads?
- Do you want to find potential buyers?
- Will the site be a source of education?
- Are you going to feature some of your current business partners?
Before you get too far into budgets and specifics, have a general idea of your goals and your plan. A new website is like a blank canvas and you are Picasso. You can do almost anything you like, but without a plan you may be making changes after just a few months.
Know your target market
Knowing your target market shapes everything you do with your website, from the name of the site to the content of your posts.
It is tempting to think your site can be the one-stop investing site for your market, but that’s just not the case. You can’t be everything to everybody. You can have different pages and tabs about different things, but pick only one or two themes and targets. Content aimed at cash buyers is different from content for distressed homeowners.
There’s no right or wrong answer about what your target market should be. Spend some time weighing your options, and whatever you decide, go for it.
Balance business and personal
The goal for any website is to keep visitors on the site as long as possible. Your web designer will help here, but it’s up to you to add the content. Offer a mix of education, information and personal insights.
People like to work with someone they believe can get the job done, or someone they like personally. As a real estate investor in a local market, that can be a tricky balancing act. You want to tout your services and show what you can do, but you don’t want to seem insensitive to the distressed homeowners you may have bought property from.
If you have a passion for a sports team or a hobby, don’t be afraid to show pictures or content about it. Some people may not like your team, but focus on the ones who do. It can be a conversation starter and give you a jump-start on building a relationship.
Publish blog posts regularly
A common phrase in website development is “content is king.” The content on your site needs to be interesting enough to keep people browsing other areas, and that means high-quality blog posts on a regular basis.
Even if you aren’t a skilled writer, you can probably bang out 500 words on a topic in the real estate business. Like anything else, the more you write, the easier it gets. Pick a topic and write something every day.
Share your posts on all the social media platforms you use. That leads readers back to your website, and you never know who is reading and will eventually want to work with you. At around half an hour a day, daily blog posts are time well spent.
Make it unique
There are hundreds of generic templates you can use to build your website. They may be cheap and easy to put together, but they often miss the mark.
There’s nothing wrong with a website that stands out. It should fit your personality. If you’re a people person who likes to be the center of attention, your site should reflect that. If you want a different color scheme or font, go ahead and try it.
Play it safe with a traditional template and your site will be viewed and quickly forgotten, and all your great pages and content won’t get looked at. Don’t be afraid to go with the website you feel comfortable with.
