Do Real Estate Agents Really Need Their Own Websites?

Do real estate agents need their own websites? Even though they already have a profile page on their broker’s site?

Short answer: YES.

Long answer: Having a website of your own provides too many benefits to ignore. This post will take a look at the top 10 benefits. Read them through and decide for yourself if it’s worth the time and expense of getting your own site.

How much time and expense are we talking, exactly?

Well, it depends on how much of the website build you want to do yourself. If you want to build the site entirely on your own, check out How to Build a Real Estate Website for completely free step-by-step instructions on building your own website. It’s easier than you might expect, and DYI-ing your site will save you thousands of dollars!

If you’d rather hire someone to build your site for you, don’t spend thousands when you really don’t need to! I offer affordable website builds for real estate agents. It will take about a week, but your active time commitment will be minimal. Just a few phone calls and emails to make sure you’re happy with the design and layout. Check out my current rates, and contact me for a free consultation!

Now that you know a little more about the cost of setting up your own real estate website, you can evaluate the benefits of having your own site and decide if you’re ready to make the leap.

Benefit #1. Get found in online searches

What happens if someone searches online for a Realtor® in your city? Are you one of the agents listed on the first page of the search results?

If you don’t have your own real estate website, the best you can probably hope for is that your brokerage will be one of the top search results. But how many agents are in your office? Will those Internet leads going to your broker’s site find their way to you?

Having your own website doesn’t guarantee you a place on the front page, but it gives you a chance! Having your own website gives the search engines content to index so they can rank you as a search result. Getting on that front page will take some work, and it all starts with having your own website.

Benefit #2. Build your brand

As a real estate agent, you are your own brand. It’s imperative that you keep your brand separate from your broker’s brand.

Why?

Because you may not always be affiliated with that Broker. You may move to another broker at some point. Or you might even strike out on your own. So you want to make sure your market recognizes you, not just your current Broker.

Benefit #3. Demonstrate authority

Having your own real estate website gives you a platform from which to demonstrate your knowledge and to position yourself as a local real estate authority.

This is especially important for new agents. You may not have client testimonials yet. Or a sales record of any kind. But you can show your market that you know your stuff!

Use the blog function of your website to publish market reports with your analysis of what the numbers mean for real-life buyers and sellers. You can also publish strategies for buyers and sellers. And home maintenance tips to showcase your knowledge of electrical, HVAC, plumbing, etc. Blogging is one of the most effective (and least utilized!) marketing tools available to agents. To maximize the return on the investment in your site, take full advantage of blogging!

Benefit #4. Build trust

The simple act of having your own website offers some legitimacy to your business. The general public, especially the younger generations, are more willing to trust in your professionalism if you have your own site.

And the more content you post on your site (again, blog posts are the perfect medium for adding valuable content to your site), the more your potential clients will see your expertise. Seeing this expertise builds more trust. And earning the trust of your potential clients is vital to earning their business.

Benefit #5. Provide value to your clients even before making contact

Here’s where you can really distance yourself from your competitors! If you provide useful information through your website, you’re able to serve your future clients before even making first contact.

This is important because 1) I’m guessing you got into real estate to help people buy and sell their homes, which your insider information will do. And 2) not only will these prospective clients trust your expertise, but they’ll also feel indebted to you for the free service they’ve already received.

If you have resources you share with your clients (staging checklists, home maintenance calendars, insider negotiating tactics), share it with your prospects through your website. And bam, your client resources have just become free marketing tools!

Benefit #6. Qualify your traffic

Additionally, you can use your website to qualify your traffic.

What happens when a lead comes to you from your broker’s website? What are the odds the lead will be qualified?

With your own website, you can qualify potential clients before investing a ton of your time in working with them. When buyers land on your website, for example, you can direct them to a page all about the pre-approval process. Explain the importance of being pre-approved even before starting a home search, and you’ll save yourself from investing hours of your life in buyers that aren’t able to get a loan.

Benefit #7. Engage your prospective clients

Another brilliant feature of having your own website is the multiple communication functions. Prospective clients aren’t limited to phone calls, texts, and emails. They can click “contact me” to get a message straight to you without copying down your contact info. They can also communicate with you and with each other through blog comments.

Here’s why I love blog comments: they are super informal, so you’ll get little mini-interactions with people who are just starting to think about buying and selling. They might not be ready to make a move yet, but you can start engaging them through these small informal conversations so you become their go-to as they get closer to buying or selling.

Benefit #8. Build your mailing list

If you’re a new agent, you might have a pretty small sphere. Your mailing list might just be friends and family. And it can be really difficult to get those first few additions to your mailing list. But your own real estate website can help!

In the blogging world, we use “lead magnets” (also called “content upgrades” or just “freebies”) to collect contact information from visitors to our sites.

Basically, you create a valuable resource for your visitors, and they enter their contact info on your website so you can send them the resource. Your visitors get the benefit of the resource, and you get the benefit of adding a name to your mailing list. Win-win!

What kind of resource should you create?

This feels like the perfect opportunity for me to offer you a freebie! Just enter your name and email below to get a list of 10 Perfect Lead Magnet Ideas for Real Estate Agents.

Learn more about How to Build Your Real Estate Mailing List.

Benefit #9. Stay top-of-mind

A brilliant by-product of providing useful information through your website’s blog and building your mailing list through your website is that you’re able to stay top-of-mind with your past clients and prospective clients.

As you publish a post about, say, 5 Successful Negotiation Tactics for Buyers in a Seller’s Market, you can notify the potential buyers on your list so they can read your post. If you publish a post about 3 Reasons Now is the Perfect Time to Sell, you can notify the homeowners on your list.

All this relevant, useful information keeps you top-of-mind with clients who may be looking to make a move, or (just as promising!) who may have friends or family they could refer to you!

Benefit #10. Create multiple streams of income

Did you realize you can actually earn multiple streams of income from having your own website?

That’s what we’re all about here at Real Estate Side Hustles: expanding your real estate business into multiple products and services so you can effectively recession-proof your business.

So how can you earn multiple streams of income from your website? Here’s just a partial list of the many options!

• Sell products (like ebooks) or rent products (like tools and equipment)
• Offer additional services (like property tax appeals or new home photo shoots)
• Earn money from your blog posts (through affiliate links, sponsorships, or members-only content)

Do Real Estate Agents Need Their Own Websites?

Ok, you’ve heard the benefits of having your own real estate website, independent from your Broker’s site. What do you think?

Is it worth a few hundred dollars and a time investment to build your own site to enjoy these benefits?

If so, don’t put it off! You can’t afford to!

The sooner you launch your site, the sooner you’ll reap the benefits.

Check out How to Build a Real Estate Website today!