To be successful in the competitive real estate world, agents need to continually bring new prospective clients to their websites. Yet in order to truly thrive, they also need to keep these prospects engaged on their website long enough to make a great impression which at times results in them becoming a client.
When a client arrives on a website that loads slowly, has too many pop-up windows, or is designed in a way that makes it difficult to find information –many abandon the site right away. Monitoring a business website’s bounce rate – that is, the percentage of visitors who enter the site and then leave (“bounce”) rather than continuing to view other pages within the same site – is crucial to the health of your marketing efforts. Using Google Analytics, you can easily find out if your bounce rate is too high (the average bounce rate is 30-50% for lead generation websites) and then use this feedback to optimize your site.
So you’re probably wondering, what can you do to reduce your bounce rate and increase engagement and conversions? We put together five tips to help you get started.
Make Your Pages Scannable
If you expect a prospective customer to stay and engage on your website, your content needs to be easy to consume at a glance. In our time-starved world of digital information, you should assume that your prospects will not spend much time consuming the content on your site. By using clear and concise headlines, chunking your text into multiple paragraphs and using catchy sub-headings, you will make it much easier for people to view your content. Posting relevant, eye-catching images or video to complement the text on your page gives visitors a more compelling user experience, which makes them more likely to contact you.
Mobile-Friendly Layout
We are now operating in a mobile-first marketplace, which means that many of your prospects are using their mobile devices as the first point of access to the Internet. Since many members of your target audience will not be accessing your website on a computer, it is crucial that your site functions perfectly on all types of smartphones and tablets. If your site doesn’t load properly on a mobile, or does not properly fit the screen, many will abandon the site and potentially visit a competitor’s site. Make sure that your website is built in a responsive design that fits all screen sizes.
Write Effective CTA’s
Calls-To-Action (CTAs) are basically instructions to the audience designed to provoke immediate responses. For best results, each of your CTAs should be customized to the page that it appears on. For instance, ‘About Me’ web pages should have CTA’s like “Subscribe to our newsletter” or “Follow us on Facebook”, whereas listings should have more direct CTAs like “Book a Viewing.” Other factors such as the CTA text color, placement on page, and phrasing can affect their performance rates. Don’t be afraid to do some testing and experimentation to see what your audience responds best to.
Tell Your Story
Your website gives you an opportunity to tell people who you are and why they should work with you. What makes your business valuable? What skills do you possess that set you apart from your competition? What motivates you to serve your clients? Providing these types of insights help you build trust with your audience. Including images that reflect your personality and your business values will help to add a personal touch. This can encourage consumers to stay on your website for longer, which can help to lower your bounce rate and boost conversions.
Trust the experts in real estate websites
Creating a real estate agent website that doesn’t raise red flags with Google and meets current website design and user experience best practices doesn’t have to be difficult. The experts in real estate websites, IXACT Contact has helped thousands of agents launch customized, mobile-friendly agent websites that are designed to generate leads. You can choose from a range of a pre-configured designs or create your own design and customize your website’s page layouts, colors, banner images, embedded videos and more – and every website is mobile optimized.
Unlock the marketing potential of your website and start your FREE 5 week free trial of IXACT Contact now.
