I’ve been adding a lot of community pages recently to my website like this page focused on Granite Bay Real Estate.
There seems to be a lot of discussion out in the real estate blogosphere about adding lifestyle searches and demographic information. Some real estate websites are adding zillow zestimates, walk-score information, google map searches with yelp reviews of business around the neighborhood.
I’ve recently added Microsoft’s bird’s eye view and Google’s street view to the detail pages of all the MLS listings. I’ve also added Trendgraphix information on the city and neighborhood pages to provide a quick snapshot of available inventory, pending sales and sold properties. I’m also trying to populate the site with videos that represent different areas. Eventually I would like to make (or have them made) for different areas.
I always try to think like a home buyer/seller when making any change to my site. I’ve been looking at a lot of sites around the country and it seems universally we are all stuck with relatively small photos, still limited use of video, too many blog posts that showcase an agent’s “newest listing”.
Look around in other verticals and the trend is for larger, high quality photos, very media centric/interactive sites. Right now most real estate agents around the country are limited to IDX feeds with relatively small resolution photos. It seems to me, pushing local MLS to increase the photo size might be one way for local real estate sites to stand out.
I’ve been looking at a lot of the demographic data that seems to be placed on a lot of real estate websites and it just does not move me. Even with creating a regional real estate website, I feel I should be able to synthesize the key demographic data for my area while maybe providing relevant links to the “label readers” who want a more in depth analysis of an area.
For now I’m planning on creating a more visual experience for my web visitors, improving navigation and create ways to tempt the user to click through to multiple pages.
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We have recently added all the “extras” to our website also. I think that it helps the client out alot more. The more questions they can answer on their own, the less time I waste in my car becasue it is in the wrong area or doenst have a backyard.
I recently switched IDX providers that allows me to customize my IDX searches, I think that has been a huge help in allowing me to give my clients what they want. It also has all the bells and whistles, map search, street view, and the like. I have talked to my clients that I asked to test it, and they like all the little extras a lot, they say it makes a big difference to them.
Did you add the extra web goodies with some sort of a WordPress widget? Or do you have to manually make your map on Bing and then embed it with the code they provide?
Community stats are always great. I add links and stories about local events on my site. I always get emails from new leads about the local news I put on my sites not just the real estate stats.
I think that adding lifestyle searches is a great idea. How is bird’s eye looking for you? It is so important to know what the lifestyle is where you are moving. If I had three clients with differing lifestyles, it would save so much time and energy to point them in the right direction. Then again, sometimes you find a gem where you never would have guessed.
Thanks a lot
More information definitely helps the home buyers. Information which we provide either on our real estate website or blog should be very very specific and targeted to the niche market.
I like your idea of having lifestyle specific information on the website. I also follow the same on my website and blog in order to make sure that my customers gets the specific information which they are looking for.