Before an individual enquires to an estate agency, they will usually look for three things. They need to ensure they can trust the business and they need to believe the business is an expert and experienced in providing the service needed, such as the expertise and experience in selling property in the individual’s specific location. Therefore, to increase website conversions an estate agency website needs to build trust and authoritativeness with leads and showcase its experience and expertise. We discuss some of the ways estate agencies can do this effectively.
How to build trust in the property market
There are four great ways to help consumers trust your estate agency when considering your services from your website. You can enhance consumer trust by:
- Including real testimonials and/or reviews from previous sellers and buyers
- Including links to your social media platforms where you engage with followers
- Including case studies on your website
- Put a face and even a voice to your business
Testimonials and reviews can be strategically placed throughout your website pages to build trust among leads. They are best placed near a Call to Action (CTA), such as buttons that lead to enquiry forms. You can even create sliding banners that allow you to showcase a range of different reviews at once.
Links can be included within web pages to send the visitor to your social media accounts. This is another way of providing social proof that you’re a legitimate estate agency in the local market. You can even have your most recent social media posts appear on your homepage or other important areas of your website.
A more sophisticated way of building trust is to add a case study section to your website. This is where you dedicate a whole page or an area of a page to a real story of how you exceeded client expectations. Building trust is even better if you can include real images and a quote from the satisfied client.
Last but not least, including images or even an office video that shows the people working in the business builds trust effectively. This is because people feel more trusting when they can put a face to a business name. Just remember to use consistent high-quality images or trust in your professionalism can be damaged.
How to showcase expertise and authoritativeness
There are several ways to show off your estate agents’ expertise on your website and build authoritativeness, but the best method is through content creation. Publishing blogs or uploading more innovative content like podcasts and webinars (which could be added to a company YouTube channel as well!) is a fantastic way of showcasing (local) industry knowledge.
This coincides with Google’s updated content creation guidelines known as EEAT which stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Google is now prioritising content that can display these qualities within respected niches. So, your content won’t just show off your expertise in a niche of the market, it will even help you generate more website visitors.
How to highlight your experience
Experience is best conveyed on two pages of your website, namely your About page and your Team page(s). Both of these pages provide an opportunity to state the experience and qualifications of your company as a whole and its staff as individuals. These pages can also convey expertise, although not quite as effectively as longer-form content creation.
You don’t just have to show off experience with written text. You can make this information more appealing and digestible through images and videos. For example, you might wish to add an interactive timeline to your About page which shows how many years your estate agency has been operating, while also referring to milestones and achievements, such as industry nominations and awards.
Recap: Building trust and authoritativeness and showcasing experience and expertise are crucial for estate agency websites to increase conversions. Testimonials, social media links, case studies and personalizing the business with images and videos help establish trust with leads. Content creation, such as blogs, podcasts, and webinars, not only demonstrates expertise but also build authoritativeness and aligns with Google's content guidelines for improved visibility. By implementing these strategies, estate agencies can effectively establish credibility and experience more enquiries.
WEBPRO Knows
More than 90% of people want to read your reviews (trust you!) before making contact!
