{"id":11193,"date":"2025-02-10T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realtyninja.com\/blog\/?p=11193"},"modified":"2025-02-11T12:50:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T20:50:41","slug":"its-time-to-dispel-these-7-real-estate-website-myths-that-are-holding-you-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realtyninja.com\/blog\/its-time-to-dispel-these-7-real-estate-website-myths-that-are-holding-you-back\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Time To Dispel These 7 Real Estate Website Myths That Are Holding You Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At RealtyNinja, we hear it all: from new agents just starting out, to seasoned agents looking to make changes. These are some misconceptions that we get all the time; The worst part is the stress they cause because of the implications of getting it all wrong. REALTORS\u00ae might feel that their money is being wasted, or that if they start out not launching something “perfect” then no one will ever look at their website from the beginning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s set some of these myths straight:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myth #1: \u201cPeople don’t go to agent websites to look at listings.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes that’s true, but as a blanket statement it’s false. While it\u2019s true that many buyers use aggregate platforms like REALTOR.ca for daily searches, agent websites still play a critical role. Prospective clients often look up an agent\u2019s name from a \u201cFor Sale\u201d sign to explore their style, expertise, and perspective on a property. Listings on your site can serve as an extension of your other marketing efforts, offering more personalized and detailed content than larger platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In fact, NAR’s 2024 research<\/a> shows that above any content-based factor, photos and detailed information about listings including floor plans are the most looked for on a Realtor\u00ae\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Takeaway: <\/strong>Narrowing down the purpose of your website doesn’t have to reduce functionality. Listings on your website are an important tool for your other marketing efforts, and you get bonus points if you personalize the listing functionality to the people that are most likely to love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Offer “personalized saved searches” so they get matching listings delivered straight to them from you<\/em> to scroll instead of popping REALTOR.ca open every day. Offer them some sort of value they won’t get on aggregate sites.<\/li>
  2. Market listings on your website as the landing page for an ad.<\/a><\/li>
  3. Tell people the ins-and-outs of the listing with information that can’t be detailed on aggregate websites, like personalized neighbourhood info, school district information if a family-oriented home, and what the average lifestyle might be like living there. Enhance listings with high-resolution imagery and other media like videos and documents. (RealtyNinja customer? Here’s how to do that!<\/a>)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Myth #2: \u201cSEO is the only thing that matters with your website.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I’m just going to go ahead and say it, and you can send your cold-call email agencies that contact you about how “awful the SEO of your website is but they can fix it with these recommended actions and $5000” to fight me about it: Search Engine Optimization as it is being marketed to you<\/strong> means nothing these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The amount of h1 tags on a single page doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A “C” score of your page load optimization doesn’t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pages full of AI-written, un-engaging content that are entirely built around certain keywords don’t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Try some searches in an incognito browser window for terms that you think you should come up for and review the first page of results. For example, “New listings for sale in Vancouver” comes up with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. 4 sponsored links<\/li>
    2. Zillow<\/li>
    3. REALTOR.ca<\/li>
    4. REW.ca<\/li>
    5. Redfin<\/li>
    6. RE\/MAX Canada<\/li>
    7. Royal lePage<\/li>
    8. Zolo<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      You get the idea. These sites are huge, well-established, and on principle have a much higher marketing budget than you, no matter how many properties you sell. You cannot win a competition for broad search terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\t

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