Your real estate website is one the most powerful tools you have at your disposal!
When built correctly, your real estate website will:
Convert your ideal clients
Build your email subscriber list
Build resale value (you can sell your site for FAT profits when you retire)
Earn you passive income through content sponsors and affiliate links
However, if your real estate website’s bounce rates are through the roof, you’re unlikely to achieve any of those big baller benefits.
If you are like most people in real estate, tech is not really your thang.
I get it…
It’s confusing, changes constantly, and takes up more time to master than you have to spare.
However, you also know that tech is an important part of growing and sustaining your business which is why I am here to simplify it all for you.
In today’s BestRealEstateWriter.com blog post, I’m breaking down bounce rates so you understand what they are, why they matter, and how to improve yours without adding to your already heavy workload.
What Are Bounce Rates?
A “bounce rate” refers to the number of people that land on your website and immediately “bounce” off and go to another site. Obviously, you want this number to be as low as possible.
The whole point of your real estate website and blog is to attract new followers, get them engaged, and ultimately convert them one way or another.
What Are The Bounce Rates On Your Real Estate Website?
At this point, I’m guessing you might be curious what your bounce rates are. Especially, if you’re dumping your marketing dollars into things like Facebook Ads or Google Ads to try and increase your traffic.
Don’t worry, finding your bounce rate is super easy thanks to Google Analytics.
Sign into to your Google Analytics account, scroll down in the left-hand column to “Acquisition” and then click “Overview” and you will see the column entitled “Bounce Rate.”
Quality Traffic vs. Quantity Traffic
As always, I want to emphasize the importance of trying to attract high-quality traffic. However, the more people that you can attract to your real estate website, the faster you will be able to grow your affiliate sales and the more you can charge people for sponsoring custom content on your site. The higher your traffic and the lower your bounce rates, the more you will be able to sell your website for when you retire. For those that are serious about their real estate content strategy, like my clients, it is not uncommon to yield six or seven figures from the sale of their website.
How Do You Attract The Right People To Your Real Estate Website AND Keep Them There?
Now that you know how important your bounce rates are and how high they are, I’m guessing you’re anxious to lower that number, right?
Here are six powerful ways to bottom out the bounce rates on your real estate website:
1. Write Relevant, Custom and Engaging Real Estate Content
It should go without saying that all of the content on your real estate website needs to be completely unique and original (not copied) because otherwise you could be sued or Google will never point traffic your way no matter how much you pay them.
However, the real estate content on your website also needs to infuse psychology and personality to get your readers engaged and keep them interested enough to stay on your site for any length of time. The copy on every page from the home page to the blog needs to be capable of captivating your visitors and get them to take action.
Always remember that the more high-quality content you have on your real estate website and the more that update it, the more organic and high-quality traffic you will have a.k.a. mo’ money and fewer bouncers!
Watch and Learn 22 Ways To Optimize Your Real Estate Website's SEO | Get Found By Google | Sarah Layton
2. Fix Your “About Me” Page
The “About Me” page of your website is NOT what you think it is!
Most people make the mistake of writing some long, drawn-out bio all about who they are, how they got involved in the business, and why they are so great.
This is a HUGE mistake!
I know it might sound crazy but your “About Me” page should not really be about you and your company as much as it should be about the people you are trying to attract.
The content on this page should be designed to psychologically tap into the hearts and minds of the people reading it and make them feel as though you really understand them.
You want them to walk away from this page feeling a deeper connection to you and seeing you as the solution to their problems and the pivotal stepping-stone to their dreams.
The more that you make this content all about you, the more you will alienate readers and the higher your bounce rates will climb.
3. Make Sure Your Site Is Mobile-Friendly
Let me make this crystal clear...
If your real estate website is not mobile-friendly, it might as well not exist!
I am not trying to be dramatic here. Google and other search engines will do everything in their power to prevent people from making their way to your site if it is not fully mobile-friendly.
Even if someone does somehow manage to make it there against all odds on their phone or tablet, they will surely bounce off your site instantly because it will be inconvenient for them to consume your content.
4. Link To Other Relevant Blog Posts
One of my favorite ways to keep people on a real estate blog or website is to frequently incorporate internal links to other content on the site.
A fast and simple way of doing this is to add 3-7 links to other relevant blog posts somewhere on each and every post. For example, if you are a real estate agent writing a new blog post about preparing a house for sale, you should also link to articles you’ve already written that help sellers make the most of their listings.
I suggest keeping an on-going spreadsheet of all of your real estate blog posts with a link to each of them so you can do this with minimal effort.
5. Eliminate Outbound Links
There is a long-held and frankly, an outdated opinion that you need to collect as many outbound links on your website as possible.
I STRONGLY disagree with this SEO practice because it serves to work against you more than it does for you.
Think about it this way; you’re spending a lot of resources trying to drive traffic to your website. Why would you then turn around and tell people to leave your website?
The only time that I think you should include outbound links on your real estate website is if it is to a sponsor that has paid to be featured in a post or if it is an affiliate product that will pay you for sending that traffic.
6. Keep Your Site Up To Speed
Finally, it is important to mention that you need to have your site up to speed. If it takes too long to for your site to load, you can be sure your bounce rates will go through the roof. Let’s face it, people just aren’t as patient as they once were and you can’t afford to ask them to wait as part of your first impression.
Get A Free Real Estate Website Audit!
If you are like most real estate pros, building and optimizing your website is not only a pain in your ass, it’s time-consuming and mysterious.
It doesn’t have to be so complex and frustrating!
If you are boosting Facebook ads, buying Google ads, and doing everything you can to try and drive traffic to your real estate website but you’re disappointed with your results, there is probably something missing from your site.
Don’t keep banging your head against the wall!
Sign-up for a free website audit with me (select the initial consultation option) and I will show you which portions of your site are killing it and where you need to step up your game.
