A modern website or social media campaign can be powerhouses tool for real estate agents and construction professionals hammering on ideas to expand their reach and showcase the quality of their work for tech-savvy buyers in the digital age.
One thing to keep in mind – regardless of whether you’re building a new website or remodeling an existing domain – is how its design and development relates to popular industry discussions centered on modern homes, contemporary interiors and minimalistic lifestyles.
Now consider this. If a cluttered home fails to impress buyers in real-world situations, why would an overbearing website or untidy social media pages fare any better in the minds of those making purchasing considerations in the 2010s?
A Move, Inc. article published on Realtor.com speaks to the value of curb appeal, as well as the important role of sellers to help prospects picture themselves inside of the home.
Without all of our junk.
User experience is another popular topic of conversation among online publishers these days as it relates to capturing the attention of future buyers – prospective buyers who are turning faster and in greater numbers to the Internet and social media when starting out in search of a new or existing home.
Even if a home for sale is super clean or like brand new, Realtor.com offers a reminder that clearing kitchen counters of non-essential items, ridding the home of outdated books or magazines, cleaning out overfilled closets, and organizing computer or electrical wires are among best practices in terms of making a favorable impression on those invited in.
In that same vein, the front door of a builder’s or real estate agent’s website – open and accessible by clients or prospects 24 hours a day – should be designed with as few barriers to entry as possible, and a coherent flow that draws attention to select features and amenities to naturally coax people into the next room.
In other words, make viewing and navigating your website as intuitive, enjoyable and carefree as possible by avoiding crowded navigation bars, layers upon layers of unnecessary dropdown boxes, or urge to add every single social media icon you’ve ever seen or heard of. Instead, think about how to position visitors so that they are never more than one click away from the most pertinent information on your site – such as your portfolio and contact information, including the most relevant links – and how a plan like that could benefit those you’d like to stick around.
Copy that is straight forward and very much to the point, in lieu of beating around the bush with a bunch of flowery language that doesn’t add much value to readers or to the conversation, is equally as popular in 2014. Perhaps that’s because the ability to capture and hold the attention of targeted audiences on every device from laptops to smartphones has never been more top-of-mind for business decision-makers – as their customers and industry partners delve deeper into the digital age each and every year.
Remember, your website and social media are gateways for clients and prospective customers trying to picture themselves doing business with you. For builders and real estate pros with plans to stay on the cutting edge of marketing their tradecraft, keep in mind while figuring out how to best utilize the square-footage of your digital assets that a cluttered web presence doesn’t sell.
Originally published by Todd Razor in Acquire Magazine.