![\"real](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/real-estate-website-plan.svg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe first stage is to define the structure of your website and the hierarchy of the pages. We will then look at conversions, SEO and content. Finally we will get to the final part which is wireframing the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After we’ve done all of that we will hand it over to a designer who will have a clear plan of where everything goes and it will be their job to make it look beautiful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Real estate website structure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hierarchy_icon-red.svg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nA good real estate website plan begins with a structure that our visitors are going to be able to find the information they want really easily which will ultimately lead to more conversions. On top of that, we are going to have even more visitors because a good structure is also going to make Google love our website from an SEO perspective as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we don\u2019t get the structure right then the site is going to feel confusing and disorganised and website visitors will be less likely to convert or even find our website because Google will penalise us and we will be nowhere in search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this simple but fundamental stage we are going to place all of the pages that our website needs into a logical hierarchy and order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to plan an effective website structure <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Planning an effective website structure for real estate can be done using bullet points, which might seem over simplified but it’s the perfect tool for the job because they give a very clear view of the hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The home page naturally starts at the top of the structure and beneath that are all of the main pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some pages are common to all sites such as the Contact page, Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Sitemap and 404 page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other pages will depend on the type of real estate business, how it is structured, the selling points, goals and flow of conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Example of a real estate agency website structure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Website structures will vary across the real estate industry. Developers, commercial agents, property managers\u2026 and many more types of company will each structure their websites according to their business model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the sake of an example, we\u2019ll take a look at the website structure of a real estate agency selling and renting out residential property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you can see, bullet points make the hierarchy very clear and we can see a logical flow of information with increasing detail as you go down a level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s important to note that we are not putting in the content, such as blog articles, at this point but we are adding categories. Each of these category pages may show dynamic content such as properties, locations, blog posts, videos, testimonials, team members, services as well as data generated from the directory or sent from the CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Home page\n
\n- Buy category page\n
\n- Buy category blog posts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Search results page\n
\n- Individual property for sale page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rent category page\n
\n- Rent category blog posts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Search results page\n
\n- Individual property rental page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sell category page\n
\n- Sell category blog posts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Landlord category page\n
\n- Landlord category blog posts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Locations Page\n
\n- Municipality page\n
\n- Town page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Shortlists page\n
\n- Shortlist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Service category page\n
\n- Service page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Service category blog posts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Blogs page\n
\n- Blog categories page (for categories that are not buy \/ sell \/ service \/ jobs)\n
\n- Blog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- About us\n
\n- Team\n
\n- Recruitment category page\n
\n- Job<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Team member page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Awards<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Press<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Testimonials page\n
\n- Testimonial<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Contact page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Account page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Terms & Conditions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Privacy Policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Cookie Page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 404 page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sitemap <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Conversion planning for high performing real estate websites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/target-icon-orange.svg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIn almost every case, the purpose of a real estate website is lead generation<\/a> and that means converting website visitors into contacts. If we are going to plan a high performing real estate website then getting our conversions right is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTypes of leads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Different types of business within the real estate sector might be looking for different types of lead that we will aim to convert. A typical residential sales and letting agent would want to convert :<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Buyer leads<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Property vendors <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Tenants <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Landlords <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Clients for other services<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Potential employees and collaborators<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Conversion journey in a real estate site<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In each case, there is a journey that concludes in a win, be that a sale or a property listed. In classic marketing speak we would put labels like awareness, consideration and research on the stages of the journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At various points along this journey there will be conversion opportunities. For example, a property buyer in the early stages will be more likely to be interested in a newsletter than enquiring about an individual property. A vendor in their early stages may be more interested in remotely finding out the value of their property than arranging a formal visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Website calls to action<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Calls to action are the elements on our site that we want visitors to click in order to convert them into enquiries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Conversion-form-example.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nThere are different ways in which a website lead might convert into a contact, for example a page showing a property listing on the website might have several calls to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking at the example form, you see a number of different calls to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Save this property<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Get more info form <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Book a viewing form <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Whatsapp connection<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Share <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Of course not everyone likes to fill in a form or chat on Whatsapp<\/a>. On every page of the site, either in the header or footer, we will show alternative ways of converting, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Phone number, clicking opens up the number in the user\u2019s phone dialling pad<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Email which opens an email with address and subject prefilled<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Links to our social media pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Our content and calls to action must work harmoniously to capture these leads. So in planning our conversions we are going to take into account the type of lead, where they are in their journey and which pages we present each call to action to our website visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we have already seen, we have a number of different lead types and each may require one or more different calls to action and forms. A very simple real estate agent involved in sales may have as few as five or six forms and a larger site may have over 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For buyers and tenants we might split our buyer journey into three stages and target conversions at each one. In the early stage we will offer newsletters. As they progress to the next stage, we will offer saved searches and property matching emails. Finally when they are interested in specific properties, in the third stage, we will offer enquiry and viewing calls to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We might split vendors and landlords into just two stages, offering a newsletter and valuation request forms to them. If we are a completely online agency, the valuation form might instead be a more comprehensive form to add a property listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we want to promote other services on the website, then each of these would require a call to action and an enquiry form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recruitment is often important to expanding companies, whether we are trying to attract collaborators, sales agents or other contacts, we are going to need forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every real estate website will of course need a general contact form which will be on their contact page and many also place a similar form in the footer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We might also consider other types of calls to action such as when the user\u2019s mouse moves to close their browser window we could present a popup with a call to action. We can show different pop ups depending on the page. Buyers, renters, owners and landlords might each have their own call to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mapping conversions on a real estate website plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
We have our website structure, we know what CTA\u2019s we need to convert our leads and now we want to put this together. Using a spreadsheet we can plan which CTA\u2019s are to appear on each page in our structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The table below shows the placement of CTA\u2019s for property buyers and we would need to do the same for tenants, landlords, vendors etc and map them out to our entire site structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nA good real estate website plan begins with a structure that our visitors are going to be able to find the information they want really easily which will ultimately lead to more conversions. On top of that, we are going to have even more visitors because a good structure is also going to make Google love our website from an SEO perspective as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we don\u2019t get the structure right then the site is going to feel confusing and disorganised and website visitors will be less likely to convert or even find our website because Google will penalise us and we will be nowhere in search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this simple but fundamental stage we are going to place all of the pages that our website needs into a logical hierarchy and order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to plan an effective website structure <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Planning an effective website structure for real estate can be done using bullet points, which might seem over simplified but it’s the perfect tool for the job because they give a very clear view of the hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The home page naturally starts at the top of the structure and beneath that are all of the main pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some pages are common to all sites such as the Contact page, Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Sitemap and 404 page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other pages will depend on the type of real estate business, how it is structured, the selling points, goals and flow of conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Example of a real estate agency website structure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Website structures will vary across the real estate industry. Developers, commercial agents, property managers\u2026 and many more types of company will each structure their websites according to their business model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the sake of an example, we\u2019ll take a look at the website structure of a real estate agency selling and renting out residential property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you can see, bullet points make the hierarchy very clear and we can see a logical flow of information with increasing detail as you go down a level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s important to note that we are not putting in the content, such as blog articles, at this point but we are adding categories. Each of these category pages may show dynamic content such as properties, locations, blog posts, videos, testimonials, team members, services as well as data generated from the directory or sent from the CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Home page\n
- \n
- Buy category page\n
- \n
- Buy category blog posts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Search results page\n
- \n
- Individual property for sale page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rent category page\n
- \n
- Rent category blog posts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Search results page\n
- \n
- Individual property rental page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sell category page\n
- \n
- Sell category blog posts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Landlord category page\n
- \n
- Landlord category blog posts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Locations Page\n
- \n
- Municipality page\n
- \n
- Town page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Shortlists page\n
- \n
- Shortlist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Service category page\n
- \n
- Service page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Service category blog posts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Blogs page\n
- \n
- Blog categories page (for categories that are not buy \/ sell \/ service \/ jobs)\n
- \n
- Blog<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- About us\n
- \n
- Team\n
- \n
- Recruitment category page\n
- \n
- Job<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Team member page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Awards<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Press<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Testimonials page\n
- \n
- Testimonial<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Contact page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Account page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Terms & Conditions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Privacy Policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Cookie Page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 404 page<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sitemap <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Conversion planning for high performing real estate websites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIn almost every case, the purpose of a real estate website is lead generation<\/a> and that means converting website visitors into contacts. If we are going to plan a high performing real estate website then getting our conversions right is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Types of leads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Different types of business within the real estate sector might be looking for different types of lead that we will aim to convert. A typical residential sales and letting agent would want to convert :<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Buyer leads<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Property vendors <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Tenants <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Landlords <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Clients for other services<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Potential employees and collaborators<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Conversion journey in a real estate site<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In each case, there is a journey that concludes in a win, be that a sale or a property listed. In classic marketing speak we would put labels like awareness, consideration and research on the stages of the journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At various points along this journey there will be conversion opportunities. For example, a property buyer in the early stages will be more likely to be interested in a newsletter than enquiring about an individual property. A vendor in their early stages may be more interested in remotely finding out the value of their property than arranging a formal visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Website calls to action<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Calls to action are the elements on our site that we want visitors to click in order to convert them into enquiries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nThere are different ways in which a website lead might convert into a contact, for example a page showing a property listing on the website might have several calls to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking at the example form, you see a number of different calls to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Save this property<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Get more info form <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Book a viewing form <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Whatsapp connection<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Share <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Of course not everyone likes to fill in a form or chat on Whatsapp<\/a>. On every page of the site, either in the header or footer, we will show alternative ways of converting, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Phone number, clicking opens up the number in the user\u2019s phone dialling pad<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Email which opens an email with address and subject prefilled<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Links to our social media pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Our content and calls to action must work harmoniously to capture these leads. So in planning our conversions we are going to take into account the type of lead, where they are in their journey and which pages we present each call to action to our website visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we have already seen, we have a number of different lead types and each may require one or more different calls to action and forms. A very simple real estate agent involved in sales may have as few as five or six forms and a larger site may have over 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For buyers and tenants we might split our buyer journey into three stages and target conversions at each one. In the early stage we will offer newsletters. As they progress to the next stage, we will offer saved searches and property matching emails. Finally when they are interested in specific properties, in the third stage, we will offer enquiry and viewing calls to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We might split vendors and landlords into just two stages, offering a newsletter and valuation request forms to them. If we are a completely online agency, the valuation form might instead be a more comprehensive form to add a property listing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we want to promote other services on the website, then each of these would require a call to action and an enquiry form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recruitment is often important to expanding companies, whether we are trying to attract collaborators, sales agents or other contacts, we are going to need forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every real estate website will of course need a general contact form which will be on their contact page and many also place a similar form in the footer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We might also consider other types of calls to action such as when the user\u2019s mouse moves to close their browser window we could present a popup with a call to action. We can show different pop ups depending on the page. Buyers, renters, owners and landlords might each have their own call to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mapping conversions on a real estate website plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
We have our website structure, we know what CTA\u2019s we need to convert our leads and now we want to put this together. Using a spreadsheet we can plan which CTA\u2019s are to appear on each page in our structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The table below shows the placement of CTA\u2019s for property buyers and we would need to do the same for tenants, landlords, vendors etc and map them out to our entire site structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Recruitment category page\n
- Team\n
- Blog categories page (for categories that are not buy \/ sell \/ service \/ jobs)\n
- Municipality page\n
- Buy category page\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/chart-icon-cyan.svg\" "\\"\\""){kind=icon}
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/web-content-icon-blue.svg\" "\\"\\""){kind=icon}
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/wireframe-icon-blue.svg\" "\\"\\""){kind=icon}
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/lk8FRxijGBNEv4RijChdSI_bQT-kUthu0KV7QuPQZl0td69sJkdbTTS-NQiveCS9yb9z-jYgLLfWh0z8Ip_OESqKYnJCbU8g5d9AOZApZGVyJyCSGCCZP7tSiDIJLlErTvbaKYAd\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"real](\"https:\/\/respacio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/website-design-process.pptx-1024x576.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n