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Mobile internet traffic is increasing rather rapidly.  According to Statista, in the first quarter of 2021, mobile traffic to websites accounted for over 54% of all global traffic - that's the highest it's ever been!

To be precise, according to Statista, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 54.8% of global website traffic in the first quarter of 2021, consistently hovering around the 50 percent mark since the beginning of 2017. We're now seeing a concerted shift in website user interactions that are beginning to usurp traditional desktop-based websites; and this is something that every business - especially property agents - should be taking seriously.

Website Traffic from Mobile Devices: It's Growing for Estate Agents

Indeed, looking at some of our customers and how their sites are accessed, this fact doesn't come as a surprise. There are already examples of estate agents experiencing over 40% of their total visitors reaching them via a mobile device. For those using our estate agent software and CRM are experiencing a shift from desktop to mobile traffic and an average of 33% of traffic going to our customers sites via a mobile device.

What we've found is that those who are actively advertising in the local community - such as putting up lots of boards for example - were getting more mobile internet traffic - and this is despite much of the UK being under some sort of lockdown for most of 2020.

Our thoughts are that people are seeing estate agent boards and reaching into their pockets to do a quick Google search on the property or the selling agent - makes sense, really. Also, consider the amount of people who have been looking to leave the big cities during lockdown. We'd bet a pretty penny there's been huge numbers of potential customers lounging at home and whimsically scrolling on their phones looking at potential new homes... Why switch to a desktop device when your average smart phone will do everything you need online and much, much more?

So, we know people are using their mobiles to visit websites - but do businesses and estate agencies really need a mobile-optimised site?  

Short answer: YES

You might be thinking that if all you need to do is display smart images to support property sales on your website, then you might not need a mobile-optimised site as phones and tablets are pretty good at resizing those. This is mostly true; however, if you have text content on your site (which you most likely will) then you'll definitely need a site that's optimised for mobile devices. This will mean that all aspects of your site works just as well on a mobile device as it would on a traditional desktop.

Think about it: if your site doesn't work well on a mobile device, then is there really much point in having a website at all? A hard to navigate and non-optimised mobile site is probably creating a barrier to lead generation, which could mean a company is missing out on potential business. At Webdadi, we believe that websites help our customers make money by helping them portray a quality brand and by encouraging potential clients to call them. This means it’s a good idea to make it as easy as possible for a potential client to contact you.

Overall our view is that all companies - estate agents in particular - need to have a mobile optimised website. Those that don't? Well, they're probably missing out...

Data Entry. Even the phrase is dull. The task of entering data into a software system can be boring, and in most cases all you want to do is enter the data as quickly as possible to get the job done. It often seems like the most mundane of tasks, but what if I told you that it could be one of the most important when it comes to the SEO performance of your website?

How could such a simple task be so important? Well, when it comes to entering the property address, such a simple step can actually have far reaching consequences for your website’s SEO performance.

Let's take a normal address:

Flat 5
70 Holland Street
London
SE1 9NX

Everything here you would assume is entered correctly. However, by sticking to such a basic address structure, you’re missing vital keywords that can help boost your SEO performance for all sorts of keyword searches.

How To Avoid Basic Data Entry Mistakes That Can Harm Website SEO
 
The micro-village or borough contain a wealth of keywords that you’re missing out on if you don’t fully enter the address into your CRM platform. For example, the above address is in the London Borough of Southwark. By not entering that word into your address, you’re missing out on vital keywords to help your website rank for phrases such as “houses for sale in Southwark” or “estate agents in Southwark.” All searches that could provide your business with vital leads.

Most postcode finders or address look ups contained within property management software’s don’t contain this level of detail. They’ll simply add a street address, County and Postcode. But by doing so, your website then misses out on potentially hundreds of website pages containing vital keywords that your potential vendors, landlords and applicants use when this data is then imported into your website’s property search.

Your search results pages and property pages boost the size of your website, and pack it full of great keyword terms that boost your SEO. Your physical property stock works for you online to boost your digital presence. If these pages don’t contain the full address, you’re wasting that potential.

So, if your software is using a postcode/address finder to make entering an address of a property easier, don’t just take the easy way out. Make sure you manually enter the additional information that is so vital in expressing the local keyword terms that people search for.

That 10 second shortcut you thought was making your life easier at your estate agency could have profound ramifications for your business that you never even knew about...

So, you’re going it alone and setting up your own estate agency – great! You’re probably hard at work getting your new website designed and built, too; creating a specification document, engaging with a web development agency and looking forward to generating those all-important customer leads to fuel your new business.

But before you get too excited, is there something you may have forgotten? Something deceptively simple that can give your new website and brand a timely boost in organic traffic, build valuable brand awareness and give your prospective customers vital information?

Holding Pages: The Unsung Heroes of Successful New Website Developments

When you think of a traditional holding page, you might be thinking of the old-style ‘Coming Soon’ type website pages - often containing little of any value to visitors other than vague information about a new site launch. If you think these would be fairly pointless, you’d be absolutely right! However, it’s important that we make the distinction between a ‘Coming Soon’ page, and a holding page as the two are fundamentally different.

A holding page should act as a ‘soft launch’ of your new website; so, whilst it won’t have all the bells and whistles of a completed website, it can still do a vital job of building audience engagement and establishing your online presence. In fact, a really good holding page should contain all the information your customers need to get their attention and make contact with you – essentially, what your website ultimately will be looking to do.

For start-up businesses, a good holding page should be top of their to-do list – not just a ‘nice to have’ frivolity. And here’s why…

• They help build vital brand awareness

If you’re a new business, getting your company name out there is critical to success; so whilst you’re beavering away on getting a full website built, a holding page can do the job of generating initial brand awareness.

Because holding pages are generally very simple and quick to set up, they can do the heavy lifting of building an online web presence whilst your site is in development. They can also help put a face to the name of your new business – and this is vital in the world of property where reputation really matters.

Think of your website’s holding page as a film teaser trailer: it’s there to generate a buzz with your audience and get them to visit your site once it’s up and live. Make it interesting and give them a reason to come back again!

• They can help boost your SEO performance
  
  

The world of property is a hugely competitive one; so being seen on search engines is an absolute must – and this is where holding pages can help you get a vital foot on the SEO ladder.

SEO (or Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of increasing the quantity and quality of search traffic to your website through organic search engine results. Basically, it’s a process that can help you rise up those all-important Google search listings and, most importantly, rise above your competitors, too. For start-up businesses entering a competitive market, making an immediate impact with a new website can be tough; however, a holding page can get your foot in the door whilst your website is being fully built and developed.

As any holding page you build will most likely use your new company domain name, any search optimisation work you do for your holding page – such as good quality keyword-driven content, adding H1 headers and appropriate page titles and meta data - will continue to enhance your visibility once your site goes live as your domain will already be more visible – simple!

• They can act as a focal point for your social media activities
  
  

Did you know that social channels are increasingly becoming the first port of call for consumers? In fact, one study found that on Instagram, over 80% of people follow at least one business! Your social media channels can be just as important as your website when it comes to lead generation, and whilst your busy developing your new site, you can use social channels to supplement and build audience engagement – and using your holding page as a virtual anchor point.

Whilst building your social presence will be a challenge of its own, having a holding page can help support your activities in the short term as potential customers will instantly be able to access what will eventually be your website – and better still, they’ll also know it’s there for the future, too.

• They can help start driving PPC traffic
  
  

Speaking of lead generation, pay-per-click marketing (or PPC for short) can offer a quick, targeted boost to your lead gen activities; but if your website is still in the development phase, you could instead start send PPC traffic to your holding page instead.

For example, using Google AdWords can begin driving paid traffic to your holding page as you’ll be bidding on search terms being used by your ideal customers. If done well, a targeted PPC campaign can help give your holding page more visibility via paid search results, and do the job of letting your new potential customers know your agency is open for business.

Must Haves for Your Website Holding Page

So, we now know the positive effects a good holding page can have for start-up business websites and new agencies looking to get their business off to a flying start – but what are some landing page must haves? Well, to get you started, here’s what the expert team here at Webdadi would recommend:

• Your brand’s identity – This is your big entrance, so make your brand logo & identity clear immediately visible – in fact, give the design of you holding page real thought; not just a ‘that’ll do’ approach!
  
  
• A show-stopping headline and sub-header – Make your USP and proposition clear from the offset! Take the time to create something that piques interest, attention, and understanding from your audience.
  
  
• A well-crafted summary of you and your business – This is your elevator pitch! Define who you are, and what you can bring to your customers that makes you different
  
  
• Some keyword-driven content – Include some content which is keyword driven and will attract the people you’re looking to make customers
  
  
• A countdown clock – Yes, may seem a bit clichéd, but a nicely designed countdown clock can create a sense of audience anticipation and urgency!
  
  
• A clear, converting call to action – Lastly, give your visitors a reason to contact and engage with you! This is where you should also have a simple form to kick off you website’s lead generation.

It’s been a lovely April here at Webdadi – with the vast majority of us working from home, the early Spring sunshine has proven a welcome relief from the winter blues.

With Easter having come and gone, attention now turns to May, and for the upcoming Spring Bank holidays which will be taking place on the 3rd and 31st of May. Our offices will be closed on both the Bank Holidays and re-open as normal on the 4th May and 1st June respectively; however, our Out of Hours Service will be up and running for any of our clients who experience a business-critical issue over the May bank holidays.

If any Webdadi customer needs urgent assistance on the 3rd or 31st May, we can be reached at outofhours@webdadi.com, and our Out of Hours team will respond to you as quickly as possible.

The world of the estate agents has always been one of hard work, long hours but unlimited earning potential. It can certainly be a rewarding career and has the potential to be extremely lucrative – but the industry is also known for its high levels of staff turnover and churn.

For hybrid estate agencies, the issue of staff churn has been on the rise for a number of years now, but even with the more traditional high-street estate agencies, it’s long been the case that staff turnover can - on average - be as high as 40-50%, with an average industry career length at a leading agency of just 2 years…

Of course, you could argue that this is perhaps to be expected in a target-driven and highly competitive industry – but why should this be the case?

Why High Staff Turnover Can Be Damaging for Estate Agents

Staff turnover can be one of the biggest barriers to success at any business – and this is especially true of estate and lettings agencies.

Think about it: if you have a constant revolving door of personnel at your business, you’ll constantly be on the back foot in having to not only spend a huge amount of time on recruitment, but also potentially picking up the slack due to holes in your workforce. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

• Deteriorating levels of service - It’s often the case that businesses with high levels of staff turnover will experience lower productivity and a poorer quality of service. This is because if you’re constantly burning through employees year after year, there’s simply no chance you can build a culture that encourages knowledge transfer and succession – both critical aspects for growth and sustainability of an agency.
   
• Endless cycle of identifying, interviewing, recruiting and training – Speaks for itself really! The recruitment process isn’t quick – plus, it can also be expensive; both in terms of time and money!
   
• Lower staff morale – Staff churn simply isn’t conducive to a happy work environment as it can cause employees to fear for their own jobs, or lead to increased workloads, responsibilities and stress for your other members of staff.
   
• No chance for a positive company culture to establish – A thriving, positive company culture means your staff will enjoy coming in to work and will more likely to stick around for longer and be more productive, too! High rates of staff turnover can prevent this from happening, meaning it’s unlikely you’d see those wealth of added benefits!
   
• Poor brand reputation – Finally, if your business begins earning a reputation for a hire & fire culture, it’s likely you’ll find it difficult to attract the best talent to your agency, or build a respected brand presence against your competitors.

What your estate agency can do to reduce staff turnover

With so many negative aspects to high staff turnover, it makes sense that, as part of any business improvement strategy, estate agents actively try improve their rates of staff retention. Luckily, there are a number of simple tactics you can employ to start doing just that…

• Discover the real reasons your staff leave
  
  

Yes, it may sound deceptively simple, but simply asking why someone has chosen to leave is the best way to discover any issues that could be bubbling away under the surface. If you haven’t already, establish a proper exit interview process with your HR teams so you can glean vital intel about what is really going on at your agency behind the scenes. You could discover that the main reasons for your staff to be leaving could be a very simple or easy thing to fix!

• Employ people right for your business, not just the role
  
  

There will of course be times when some staff are simply ‘not right for the role’ – but this should be the exception, not the rule. This is where hiring the right people in the first place comes in…

When recruiting someone to your agency, don’t simply hire someone because you need someone right away -  choose the perfect individual that fits not just the role, but also your own company’s profile, too. If the candidate has all the qualifications and experience you need, make sure you also find out what their own goals and aspirations are – if they align with your own company’s goals, ambitions and values, then there’s a better chance they’ll contribute to that positive culture we mentioned earlier on, and stick around for longer, too.

• Give them to tools they need to succeed
  
  

Does your agency empower its staff to achieve success, or is it always a case of ‘making do’? In a sales-driven business, you need to ensure that you not only have the right people to do the job, but they also have the right equipment in order for them to flourish.

If you find that a common theme to your employees leaving are down to failing targets or poor lead generation or conversions, it may be time to investigate whether the sales and lead management software is really up to the task. Given that lead generation and management plays such a vital role at an estate agency, ensuring that the software and solutions you provide make the job of a busy estate agency easy should be a top priority for any agency owner – plus, the easier you make it for your employees to manage and convert their leads effectively, the better chance there’ll be that they’ll stick around for longer!

• Recognise, reward and encourage
  
  

No-one likes the feeling of being undervalued or useless in their job, and all employees will want their employers to show their contributions are valued.

Of course, your sales agents will undoubtedly be rewarded for their property sales; but also make a conscious effort to specifically recognise and reward their efforts that go above and beyond the call of duty; like giving up their own time to help others within the business, taking on extra responsibilities or providing exceptional customer service. When an employee feels their hard work and contributions are recognised, they’ll be more inclined to go that extra mile more often!

• Engage with your staff openly and honestly
  
  

Lastly, when it comes to keeping employees happy, it’s not always the case that silence is golden! By implementing regular communications with your agency’s employees, you can help reinforce your company’s goals, its values, and what is expected of your employees.

Open and honest company communications can contribute to employees feeling trusted and respected by a business. Not only that, but they can also have a positive impact on employee motivation (pretty important when it comes to sales-based environments!), support employee happiness, loyalty and their mental health and wellbeing, too…

In the world of digital transformation and marketing, chatbots have quickly risen in status from quirky gadgets to the new must-have automation tool. The technology behind them is helping businesses of all sizes engage effectively with their customers, and estate agencies should be taking note! 

If you’re new to the world of AI and chatbots, a bot is basically a computer program that simulates human conversation through voice commands, text chats or even both. For example, voice chat bots are now commonly used by businesses with large customer service operations – banks being a prime example – that are automated programs built to interact with customers like a human would, and cost very little to engage with.

The job of a chatbot is to engage with your customers and quickly deal with day-to-day enquiries – better yet, they can work 24-hours a day, 365-days a year and are not limited by time or a physical location. For estate agents, this functionality should certainly be piquing their attention as an effective chatbot can essentially deal with their business’s customer service right around the clock; meaning vital human resources can be freed to focus on more business-critical activities.

How an effective chatbot can help estate agents’ lead generation activities

Of course, a good chatbot can do far more than simply deal with day-to-day customer service enquiries; they can also help support effective lead generation tactics – and here’s why…

• Chatbots can help with accurate data capture

We’ve all had one of those days; the phones are constantly ringing, you’re dealing with enquiry after enquiry, and you’ve only got so many notepads to hand! Missing out or incorrectly capturing vital customer details can write off the quality of a lead – and this is where Chatbots can prevent this from happening.

Text chatbots are a genuinely effective and accurate data capture tool; encouraging the user to provide the details you need to help serve them better. For new sales generation, a chatbot can accurately capture the vital information you need to help deliver a bespoke, personal service – and all automatically, too!

• Chatbots can help build brand engagement and awareness

Effective PropTech and software such as chatbots can help your estate agency stand out from your rivals because, as we all know, customers are fickle and will often go with the agency that makes things as easy as possible for them. Chatbots can provide a qualitative solution that requires minimum customer effort or input any time of the day or night; plus, chatbots are less prone to human errors, meaning a better overall customer experience that can help support better brand engagement for your estate agency.

• Chatbots have relatively low development costs
  
  

Chatbots have been at the cutting edge of accessible artificial intelligence for some time now that means for even small businesses and start-ups, they can be a cost-effective asset. Much of a chatbot’s functionality requires less development costs in comparison to a bespoke application development; in fact, most of the back-end functionality is simple to use for even tech novices!

Take our Chatbot, Shortcut – which is based on the Landbot platform. This system has simple template-based functionality and pre-programmed functionality in-built – meaning that the job of creating automated question-based responses is truly simple! Plus, it’s interoperable with virtually all the big estate agent software solutions; meaning that enquiries are captured effectively with very little additional development requirements.

• Chatbots can initiate better user interactions
  
  

Did you know that 59% of consumers don’t like to use the phone when first engaging with a business? The virtual and social worlds are now the preferred first touchpoint of choice for the public, and this is especially true of the Millennial generation! So, using a chatbot can help encourage first contact from phone-shy consumers by initiating and maintaining those initial enquiries and conversation.

Going beyond initial front desk enquiries, many chatbots can ‘learn’ how to best respond to queries based on ongoing user-based input. This means that the more a bot is utilised, the more it learns and can tailor its responses – enhancing both the user experience, building trust and creating more accurate lead data for you to use in your customer nurturing activities.

• They can streamline and speed up your agency’s back office processes
  
  

Finally, chatbots are magnificently efficient and can effortlessly multi-task. For example, human agents are only capable of handling limited conversations at any one time, whereas chatbots can handle multiple conversations all at the same time. And, as we mentioned earlier, the information is generally captured more effectively too, thanks to it coming directly from the user.

Employing a chatbot at a busy estate agency to complement your human workforce is a fantastic way to boosting efficiency, reduce effort and reduce costs – meaning through one effortless solution, an agency can become more responsive, cost effective and engaging all in one fell swoop. Now that’s not bad now, is it?

The past year here at Webdadi has seen the company grow and achieve new levels of success; and as a result, we are looking to recruit a sales and marketing intern.

The role

We’re looking for a dynamic and enthusiastic intern to join our growing Sales and Marketing teams. This is the ideal opportunity for someone who’s perhaps finishing college or higher education and is looking for some real-world on-the-job experience working in a fun and fast-paced web development agency that encourages entrepreneurial spirit and project ownership.

This entry-level opportunity will give you the chance to work with experienced digital marketers and business development managers; learning the ins-and-outs of working for a fast growing and successful digital agency, and undertaking a range of roles with a focus on sales lead generation, digital marketing and online content creation.

The main duties will be:

• Conducting lead research and data entry for our Sales Team
• Analysing postcodes countrywide for sales and marketing targeting
• Clarifying lead data via telephone and email communications
• Database management and administration, ensuring the information contained on our Salesforce system is accurate and kept up to date
• Responding to and referring business enquiries to appropriate sales teams
• Assisting the Marketing Manager in the development of digital and direct marketing campaigns
• Developing our brand across social channels, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
  • This includes developing social campaigns, content calendars and building an active social presence
• Researching Google keywords for top searches and building content campaigns around targeted search terms
• Understand and develop our targeted customer’s user intent and journey.

This is a year’s internship and if you do well and develop your skillsets in this time, there is the opportunity for a permanent position within the company either with our sales or marketing teams.

The person

• A positive, professional attitude with confident communication skills (both written and verbal)
• Ability to work in a team or independently
• A keen eye for detail and a creative mind
• The ability to quickly and successfully build rapport
• Confident and outgoing personality who’s not afraid of the phone

Skills & Experience

Must haves

• Is legally allowed to work in the UK and is willing/able to commute to Putney once lockdown measures are lifted (WFH in the meantime)
• Is prepared to work hard to achieve success and career development 
• Is excited about personal and professional development
• Has a keen interest in Digital Marketing, Business Development or Sales
• Is comfortable with using social media platforms
• Is comfortable using MS Office programmes such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook

Desirables

• Has experience with database, sales or lead management software (desirable, but not essential)
• Has a Marketing, Advertising, Media or Business-oriented qualification (desirable, but not essential)
• Is able to use Adobe software, such as Photoshop or Illustrator (desirable, but not essential)

Benefits

• On-going training and mentoring in both marketing and business development
• On-going professional and career development opportunities for the successful candidate
• Opportunity to work with an innovative and growing digital development agency in the heart of Putney, London
• Supportive and fun working environment that recognises and rewards hard work and success
• 20 days of paid holiday per year, plus the usual public holidays in England. In addition, the company generally grants an additional 3 bonus days’ extra holiday, at its discretion, specifically during the Christmas festive period between the 26th of December and New Year, and closes the offices accordingly
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Company pension scheme
• £19,000 per annum

To apply for this position, please follow the link below and send a covering letter and up-to-date CV via the link below, or directly to paul.bauer@webdadi.com. The closing date for this role is Tuesday 11th May 2021.

As we’re all too painfully aware, the past 12 months have been like no other: lockdowns, distancing, endless zoom calls and a distinct lack of toilet roll for some reason… But, despite all this upheaval, the property market has remained buoyant and as the economy begins to thaw from its deep freeze, estate agents now have a huge opportunity to capitalise.

Back in May last year, we wrote about the post-lockdown challenges facing estate agencies and that last year, there were still a huge number of factors potentially holding back a full-on boom in the property market. However, with the country now seemingly approaching the light at the end of its pandemic tunnel, everyone is now gearing up for a summer like no other – and the property market is expected to really hot up!

It’s predicted that 2021 will see the property prices soaring and that this boom is expected to last around five years. Driven primarily by the relaxation of the Stamp Duty, the market is expecting to see an influx of new house buyers eager to jump on the housing ladder, and vendors all equally eager to take advantage of rising house prices. For estate agents, the immediate future looks bright; but this surge in activity should come with a warning…

Get The Easy Stuff Right First Time, Every Time!

For those Estate Agents who’ve weathered the past 12 months, now’s the chance to make hay whilst the sun shines; but it’s also a time when you should focus on improving your business, and this is where it’s utterly crucial to not forget the easy stuff. But, what are the small, easy things an estate agency might be overlooking that could be damaging their lead generation activities?

• Striking Whilst the Iron is Hot

We’re sorry to tell you this, but if you’re still relying on a pen and paper to capture critical lead information, or just a simple email inbox to capture enquiries, you’re really missing a trick. Ask yourself: How are leads into your estate agency captured? Do they go to a singular lead generation inbox? Do you have an auto response acknowledging their enquiry?
 
Those issues may only seem like little things, but that initial email, call or form fill is a critical moment in your marketing funnel. At that point, your lead is good to go – they’re in the right mindset to talk business with you! The longer you leave that lead hanging, the quicker the cooling off process can set in - undermining any positive pre-conceptions and quickly damaging your chances of getting a vital instruction!

When a new lead is generated by your agency, you need to ensure that your lead management software captures all relevant information about the lead, and that you’re able to easily nurture them with a mix of targeted and timely sales and marketing content. You need to ensure that your software gives you the tools to not only see your latest leads and where they’ve come from, but also action your response instantly – all whilst tracking and managing your contact history.

If your lead management software doesn’t do all this, you really could start lagging behind your competitors…
 

• Enshrine a Set Call-back Process for Enquiries

A call-back isn’t just the act of calling potential customers back on their phone. It’s intrinsically linked to the customer experience; and the better overall customer experience your estate agency offers, the better the chance you’ll have of creating a brand advocate who’ll be more willing to use you again and recommend you to others. No pressure then!

If you offer a call-back service, ensure that the process for completing them is set in stone at your agency. Remember: that one of the most important attributes of good customer service is a fast response time – in fact, research has shown that 88% of customers expect a call-back within 60-minutes of their enquiry. Anything more, and you could be letting that hot lead cool off or, worse still, speak to a competitor!

• Ensure Your Marketing Comms are Personalised

No one likes receiving spam – be it through their letterbox, their email inbox or in their dealings with businesses! People want to be seen as individuals, with their own unique requirements and needs; so sending personalised emails and following up on past messages can build crucial customer engagement at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Plus, there are also some fantastic benefits of offering personalised communications, including:

• They can help you stand out within your target audience’s inbox with content tailored around their needs, requirements and pain points
   
• Build trust! Remember, the expected property boom is expected to see an influx of new buyers and sellers, and being seen as trustworthy can give you the edge over your competitors
   
• Your emails will be more likely to be opened and clicked-through if the content engages with your audience. Plus, it can also be beneficial to your own website’s SEO performance
   
• Improve the customer experience and awareness of your brand – especially if your content is sent to the right people at the right time.

This part also links nicely back to how you interact with your leads – if your lead generation software doesn’t have the facility to create and implement personalised comms to your customers, you may never build true customer engagement.

• Make Sure Your Website SEO is on Point

Finally, a prime factor in good website SEO is the use of content and wording on your website. Basically, the content on your site is what a search engine ‘reads’ when a user types a search phrase into its search function. Based on what is written on your site, it’ll be ranked according to relevance of the search, the number of instances of the phrase being used on the site, and its popularity with users visiting the site when typing in similar or identical key phrases or search terms.

Now, at this point, you may be saying to yourself ‘but I publish lots of content thanks to our sales listings!’ And to an extent, you’d be right; however, these listings tend to be list-based content (so not search-term driven) and removed from websites once properties are sold – meaning they’re only visible to search engines for a potentially short amount of time.

Good quality SEO-supporting content should be evergreen in nature and based on the subjects and search terms your prospects are actively looking for. This way, you stand a better chance of being visible on search engine results for the audiences you want to reach.

Webdadi is helping Estate Agents across the country make and save money through class-leading estate agent software – find out more by hitting this link.

In the increasingly crowded virtual world, an estate agent’s website has one heck of a remit. It’s your shop-front, your stock list, your content library, your brand identity… And that’s even before we start talking about its part in website lead generation!

The fact of the matter is, that your website is the hub of all your marketing activities: a critical asset that can help you build genuine engagement with visitors, and help them make informed purchasing decisions that, ideally, they’ll want to make with your business.

So, here’s the big question: is your estate agency website doing all of that… or, is it just sitting there doing virtually nothing?

A Critical Asset, or a Critical Waste of Money?

For estate agents, the role their website plays really can’t be underestimated. It’s a place where people will most likely be making the biggest purchases of their life, and as for vendors, they’ll be looking to entrust the sale of their property to a company they barely know to get the best possible deal they can. These are hugely important decisions which aren’t solely based on flashy, aspirational imagery or punchy sales patter – they have to be a lot cleverer than that.

This is where the lead generation aspect comes in. In its rawest form, lead generation is all about creating good quality customer leads for your agency’s sales teams, and helping your visitors down your own company’s sales funnel. Your aim should be to convert your website visitors into good quality leads, and it’s the job of your website to inform, educate and persuade your visitors that they should take an interest in both your properties, and your brand.

Basically, it’s not enough for your site just to ‘look good’, or display a wide array of properties or have just a contact form – anyone can do that! Your website has to be the hub for all aspects of your lead generation activities. If it’s not, then honestly, it’s really just a waste of cold hard cash – both in terms of development costs and all the leads you’ll likely miss out on, too.

Simple things you can do to help your website lead generation activities

Now, we won’t beat around the bush here: there are a huge number of factors that can affect your company’s website lead generation activities; including its search rankings, it’s mobile responsiveness, its content… even where it’s hosted can play a part! However, before we get too deep down those rabbit holes, there are a number of simple things you can do which can help your lead gen activities, and also help drive more targeted traffic to your website.

Ensure Your Site uses Clear Call to Actions

A Call to Action (CTA) is, well, exactly that! It acts as a prompt for visitors to take an action you want them to take – in lead generation terms, a CTA can prompt a visitor to do something which starts them off down your company’s sales funnel; so that action could be completing a website contact form, downloading a piece of content (a brochure, for example), or completing an online instant valuation.

CTA’s should give the path of least resistance to your prospects to engage with you, but also help you to understand what they’re looking at on your site. They should also be simple, use great call to action phrases and ideally, be measurable too – which brings us nicely onto…

Raise your Software Game

Your website should be tied into an effective content management system and your lead generation software; this way, you can track your visitors all the way through your sales funnel; from first-time visitors, to fully-qualified sales leads! If your website doesn’t have one or the other, then you are seriously missing out…

To give an example, let’s take the CTAs we mentioned previously. A genuinely effective CMS should allow you to track how many user clicks they get, allow you to split-test variations, and allow you to track the type of CTAs and content your users are engaging with. For lead generation, this is absolutely critical as this type of data can mean you can create more targeted content for your visitors – and this even includes your more traditional print-based activities.

Use keyword research to define your content

How are visitors reaching your website? If they’re using your company name to find you, great! But, what about the ones that don’t know your company name, or even know you exist: how do you attract them to your site organically through search engines such as Google?

Conducting keyword research is a great place to start when it comes to defining your site’s content; plus, it can tell you:

• What are people searching for
• How many people are searching for it
• And in what format they want that information.

Keyword research will allow you to create more targeted website content to your desired audiences, and this – if done successfully of course – will not only help your website rank better on search engines, but also communicate more effectively to your target audience.

Share Informative and Engaging Content Often

Following on from your keyword research, you should be updating your website with keyword-driven informative and engaging content – not just sales listings. This is why we recommend having a blog on your website, and not just dismissing it as a ‘nice to have’ – it can actually be the lynchpin of your site’s online presence!

Still not convinced? Well, Inbound Marketing gurus Hubspot conducted research that found businesses who actively blog enjoy on average:

• 55% more visitors
• 97% more inbound links
• And 434% more indexed pages…

…Compared to online businesses who don’t. In short, having an active blog can make a MASSIVE difference to your website traffic… and more traffic, means more leads, and yup – more sales.

Don’t Inundate your Prospects with Email Marketing

Email marketing is of course one of the most effective lead generation techniques a business can use; however, you should be careful not to use a scattergun approach or, worse still, overloading your leads’ inboxes.

The emails you send should contain targeted content based on where they are in your sales funnel. It should also be based on similar content they may have interacted with on your site (this is where a decent CMS and lead gen software comes in); so, if a visitor has been looking at a 2-bedroom property in a particular area on your website, then send them content based on similar criteria – not just property stock you have on your books!

Easter is nearly upon us! We hope you all have the opportunity to relax, unwind and indulge in some sweet treats over the upcoming long Bank Holiday weekend.

For the team here at Webdadi, we’ll be taking some well-earned time off between Friday 2nd April to Monday 5th April; meaning our (virtual) offices will be closed during this time.

However, if any of our customer experience any business-critical issues over the upcoming Easter break, we have a dedicated email address you can reach us on at outofhours@webdadi.com and our Out of Hours team will respond to your email as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, we wish everyone a happy, peaceful and relaxing Easter break.

Got five minutes to spare? Then why not check out our portfolio? We've done some amazing work for estate agents across the country - and they've all led to fantastic long term results... Just hit this link to take a peek.