Estate agency websites
Estate agent websites, built to win the valuation
Buyers search on the portals. That battle is over and your website is not going to win it. What your site does win is the valuation: the seller deciding which agent to invite round, who checks three local firms before picking up the phone.
- Built for vendors, not buyers
- Local market authority
- Valuations reach a negotiator
Stop competing with the portals
A great deal of money is wasted on agency websites built as if they were going to out-search Rightmove for property listings. They are not, and building for that produces a site optimised for an audience it will never reach in volume.
The valuable visitor is the vendor. Somebody thinking about selling, who has looked at what similar houses went for, and who is now deciding which two or three agents to invite for a valuation. They are on your site for a couple of minutes, forming a judgement about whether you know the area and whether you seem like the sort of firm that will get it done.
That is a completely different site. It needs local market authority, evidence of what you have actually sold, honest information about fees, and a route to booking a valuation that takes seconds.
The general approach is on our page about web design in Nottinghamshire.
What wins a vendor
- Genuine local market commentary, updated, about the streets and estates you actually work rather than a national market summary anybody could reprint
- What you have sold recently and how quickly, since a vendor is buying an outcome rather than a service
- Fees said plainly, because a vendor who cannot find out what you charge assumes the worst and invites two other agents
- Named negotiators with photographs, as a vendor is choosing a person as much as a firm
- Reviews shown on the site rather than left on a profile, particularly ones that name the negotiator
- Valuation booking that takes seconds, with the request reaching somebody who will ring back the same day
- Lettings content kept genuinely separate, since a landlord and a vendor want entirely different things
- Property listings that are fast and complete, since a vendor absolutely will look at how their neighbour's house was presented
The valuation request is the whole conversion
Everything else on an agency site exists to produce one action, and it is worth treating that seriously. A vendor requesting a valuation is usually requesting two or three on the same evening, and the agent who rings back first has a real advantage.
So the form should ask for as little as possible, the request should reach a negotiator immediately rather than a general inbox, and there should be an acknowledgement that sets a real expectation about when somebody will call.
- Short form, address and phone number only
- Straight to a negotiator, not a shared inbox
- Immediate acknowledgement with a real timescale
Where listings still matter
None of this means listings on your own site are pointless. They matter for two reasons that are not about search traffic.
First, the vendor looking at how you present property is judging whether their house would be well marketed. Poor photographs, thin descriptions and a slow gallery on your own site tell them something, and it is not good.
Second, a proportion of buyers do go direct once they know the local agents, particularly for lettings and for the towns where one or two firms dominate. That traffic is smaller than the portals and it costs you nothing per lead.
So listings should be fast, complete and well presented. They just should not be the thing the whole site is designed around.
No agency client yet
We have not yet worked with an estate or lettings agency, and we would rather say that than imply sector experience we do not have.
What we do have is a track record of building sites where a single enquiry type is the whole point, and getting that enquiry to a person quickly. Happy to talk it through with no obligation.
Get in touch
Talk to us about estate agent websites
A few lines is enough. We will tell you straight whether we can help, what it would cost and how quickly we can be there. No hard sell, and no follow-up sequence if you decide against it.
- We reply within one working day
- A straight answer, including when it is no
- Free process review available, before any money changes hands
Would rather just ring? 01623 354250, Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm.
Frequently asked questions
If the answer is not here, ask us. You will get a straight one, from someone who does the work.
Mon–Fri, 9am–5:30pm
Can our website compete with Rightmove for buyers?
No, and building for that wastes the budget. The portals own buyer search. Your site's job is to win the vendor deciding which agents to invite for a valuation, which needs local market authority, evidence of recent sales and a fast route to booking.
How much does an estate agency website cost?
Ours start at £499 for a brand-led business site. Where listings need to feed in from your CRM automatically, that integration is quoted on top once we have confirmed what your system allows, and the total is fixed before we start.
Can listings feed in from our software automatically?
Usually. Most agency CRM and property software offers a feed, and we confirm what yours allows before quoting rather than after, because it is the biggest factor in the cost.
Should we publish our fees?
A vendor who cannot find out what you charge assumes the worst and invites two other agents. A clear statement of your fee, or the basis for it, tends to produce better valuation appointments rather than fewer.
Do we need separate sales and lettings sections?
Yes. A landlord and a vendor want completely different things and mixing them means neither gets a page that speaks to them. It is one of the more common structural problems on agency sites.
