Reasons Most Real Estate Websites Fail to Deliver Results

Don’t we all take out our phones and go straight to Google when we want to research or get information on any topic?

The reliability is more accurate in the real estate industry, where potential homebuyers and sellers prefer the Internet over physically visiting or contacting a realtor in their first phase of househunting.

While most real estate agencies and brokers have switched to digital platforms to broaden their exposure and launch their websites, only a few have succeeded in getting online visibility and high-quality leads from their websites.

Realtors invest a massive chuck of their budget into building their website, contact the best developer and best theme, and pack it with features that a real estate website needs, only to realize that it’s not delivering the conversion, traffic, and return on their investment as one had hope for. Now, why is that?

The truth is even if you’ve invested in building the most amazing-looking website full of features, a website by itself is insufficient to attain a well-ranking position in the search engine.

Because the digital strategy to elevate the website is neglected, the real estate website fails to deliver the results.

Real estate websites fail to deliver results because of the following reasons.

#1  Lack of Clear Objectives

An apparent reason why a real estate website fails is because there isn’t a clear objective, goal, or strategy in place. A real estate website cannot be treated as a digital business card because it’s much more than that.

It’s a digital storefront, a way to get leads, traffic, and attention to the website, which means more people get to know the real estate professional.

But the instances where realtors treat the website “just as a website” and fail to strategies plans to amplify the website’s reach is where they falter.

The objective of a website must be set right from the initial planning stage because, without a clear purpose, the design, content, and overall functionality of the website go haywire.

Clear objectives of the website define the goals, mission, and vision of the website. Without that branding and differentiating factors, the website struggles to stand out from competitors, resulting in a lack of recognition and low traffic.

In addition, the objectives define the purpose and target audience of the website. The absence of clarity in terms of messaging, tone, and appeal of the website might be confusing or inconsistent, failing to engage the real estate audience.

#2  Poor User Experience

If a real estate fails in the user experience department, it’s doomed in all aspects. There are no two ways about that.

A website with confusing or complex navigation makes it difficult for visitors to reach the page they want or find the information they’re looking for. It spikes frustration and discourages the user from exploring further, and they exit the site due to a bad experience.

Slow loading is also a contributing factor to poor user experience. A real estate website is a media-heavy website, and that might affect the speed.

But think that from a user’s perspective, if a website takes time to load, the impatient user abandons the site, resulting in a high bounce rate and low engagement, which leave a negative impression of the site.

#3  Ineffective Content

Failing to be targeted with the content and posting generic content on the website is another reason for the downhill of real estate websites.

If the content on the website is not catered towards the real estate audience and doesn’t answer their inquiries or concerns nor add any value to them, the content is deemed unfit to engage with.

When the real estate website fails to make the visitor trust you completely and show your expertise, your audience will switch to your competitor, who is answering their queries through their content.

The second reason for failure is the inefficiency of optimizing the content with real estate keywords. It is obvious that the website will not rank for search phrases not incorporated in your content.

Without ranking high on the search engine, attracting traffic to the site is impossible.

#4  Insufficient Search Engine Optimization

It is via the Internet that people who have never heard of your real estate website can still find you.

But with thousands of real estate websites on the Internet, it is not that easy to be visible to the target audience.

It is a race where all real estate websites are fighting ferociously to win the attention of their target audience.

In such a competitive industry, real estate websites without Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are bound to fail because if the website isn’t optimized to rank on the search engine, the target audience will never find it.

It will never be able to generate high-quality leads, and in due course, the website will be abandoned as a failed project by the realtors.

SEO does play a huge role in online marketing and business growth when the right strategies are in place.

#5  Lack of Targeted Traffic

What is even the point of having a real estate website if it doesn’t attract people looking to buy a property? If the website visitors are people who have zero interest in real estate, the conversion remains stagnant.

Unrelated or general visitors won’t engage with the site, submit forms and inquiries, or view the property listing, leading to a lack of inquiries or transactions.

When the website fails to reach the intended audience, getting motivated leads and delivering results is out of the picture.

#6  Weak Call-to-Action

Most real estate websites fail to spike conversion even if they’re optimized in other aspects because of the weak call-to-action (CTA) button.

When the CTA fails to signal the visitors to take the desired action or has confusing instructions, the user hesitates to click it; thus, the conversion doesn’t take off.

Another issue with CTA is the weak persuasiveness or generic language, which doesn’t highlight the benefits or incentives to motivate the user to proceed further in the conversion funnel.

Poor placement is another reason website visitors overlook CTA buttons. When the CTA icon is not prominent or not placed in the visible areas, the visitor neglects it, and no conversions are made.

#7  Inadequate Measurement and Optimization

The measurement and optimization tools and analytics allow for gathering data, formulating optimized strategies, and analyzing the effectiveness of campaigns.

Without proper them, it is impossible to track the user interaction with the website. It is impossible without the metrics to analyze user preferences and browsing patterns to make informed marketing decisions that appeal to the target audience.

Also, in the absence of a clear understanding of how the website is performing or if it’s suffering from any technical issues leading to high bounce rates and low conversion rates, ultimately failing to deliver results.

#8  Failure to Adapt to Changing Trends

Following and implementing the trends is an important marketing strategy to remain aligned with the user preference. In failing to do so, the website becomes dates and cannot deliver the best user experience.

When a website is not in check with the latest trends in the market, it fails to provide an innovative experience, loses in competition with fellow real estate websites, and, in time, the online visibility declines.

The marketing strategies become ineffective because they are no longer exciting to the target users, resulting in reduced traffic and low engagement, which is detrimental to the website.

#9  Ignoring Mobile-Friendly Websites

About 60% of online searches are done via mobile devices, with the real estate industry reaching 42%, as mentioned by a report from THE WEBMASTER. The real estate websites that aren’t optimized for mobile miss out on a massive number of site visitors and customers.

Even though half of the website traffic comes from mobile users, websites are not mobile-friendly. It is not enough to have a mobile responsive real estate website.

It only leaves users with a bad experience as the site is challenging to navigate, the fonts are tiny, clicking links is difficult, and the call to action is not strong visually.

Due to those reasons, the user exits from the website without completing any conversion, and thus the website fails.

Conclusion

A real estate may fail right from its launch or mid-way when it fails to deliver on the user experience, has a convoluted website purpose, fails to follow the trends or any of the other reasons we’ve mentioned above.

When a website is left unattended for a long time, all the efforts to boost its online presence take a beating, and recovering from it can sometimes be impossible. Our aim with this article was to make the realtors aware of the reasons contributing to a failing real estate website.

Now that you’re aware of the reasons that can cause your business’s downhill, it’s time to optimize those loopholes and win more clients.

For new and existing real estate professionals, Splendour Group is the only real estate digital marketing agency providing complete solutions to ensure your real estate website shines on the Internet, generating steady business. Contact us today, and get a no-obligation consultation.