Commercial Real Estate Agents – Website Strategies That You Need Today

Every commercial real estate agent will understand that a website and the Internet are now critical components of commercial property marketing. That being said, it is very easy to adopt a standard and ordinary approach when it comes to the Internet and the use of websites.  This can be radically changed and improved with the correct focus and information.

Website Facts

So let’s look at some of the basic facts and requirements that need to be served by your website and then we can add to that list with some further relevant and rewarding strategies.

1. Your business branding needs to be carefully considered and created.  That should prominently feature on the home page of the website.  Your website should be up to date and visually appealing to encourage the visitor to read on or investigate further.
2. When it comes to commercial real estate websites, do not use flash software.  Whilst the flash software may seem visually appealing, it actually prevents search engines from entering the site and correctly ranking you relative to your specialty and relevance in the market.
3. Your website should be serving particular categories of people relative to your property specialty, your services, and the local area.  They will normally be sellers, buyers, tenants, property investors, property developers, and clients.
4. Your website should be encouraging interaction and feedback.  You want people to connect with you as a direct result of visiting your website.  This can be done in a number of ways and should be part of the principal strategy when it comes to designing the website.

Website Layout Ideas

So given the above points, you can actually take further steps to improve the standard website layout and visitor interaction.  Here are some ideas to help you:

1. When it comes to your home page, most of the branding and information should be contained within a short vertical distance.  The visitor to the website should not need to scroll down significantly to get your message about the site.
2. Your website should be user friendly when it comes to both fixed computers, and mobile or cell phones.  Your website should be easily navigable when it comes to both access tools.
3. Ensure that every web page is optimized for keywords relative to your area and property specialty.  Also, ensure that the meta tags hidden on your webpages are correctly completed to help the search engines find you and understand you.
4. Have your website URL listed on the popular search engines by completing the lodgment forms for each search engine provider.  They will then visit the site and categorize your pages and links.
5. The first page of your website should feature a special offer regards a property report.  This report will be provided when the visitor to the site gives you their contact email and telephone number.  Over time this will help you build your database.
6. The first page of your website should also feature a search facility to look for particular properties within set criteria.  That will then take the visitor to a specific subpage within the site.
7. The drop-down menus within the website should be relatively easy and straightforward.  They should be simple categories for people to follow through.  That will include selling, leasing, property management, property development, and tenant advocacy.  Each of these main categories will then have subsets of page activity depending on the depth of your services.
8. Your current clients should have a special access portal within your website so that they can access private and confidential information regards their listings.  On those private website pages, you can provide advertising information, inspection reports, property updates, due diligence reports, and property photographs.
9. One of the reasons why some websites a high successful is that they are constantly updating the site with relevant content and information.  Over time the search engines identify this upgrade and tend to rank the commercial real estate website higher than its competitors in the same local area.  Understand the value of knowledge and content and build it into your website.  This process can be enhanced by the use of a business blog.

It can be said that the Internet today is more important than ever before.  The majority of our marketing efforts should now be centred on the Internet and through Social Media.