Agents Now Fighting Their Real Estate Wars Online

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Seth Price, GoLocal Real Estate Expert

Back in 2010, the web was a much different place. The majority of people surfed the web from their laptops or desktops; those who did access the Internet from a smartphone or feature phone were limited by their 3G networks; social media and user-targeted ads were the future of digital marketing; geolocation and local search were still in their infancy; and less than 20 percent of the top 500,000 websites were mobile friendly.

Three years later, all of this has changed thanks to advances in device technology and the ensuing explosion of the mobile web. Today, more than 40 percent of Zillow's weekend traffic comes from mobile devices. That number is even higher for Realtor.com, with 45 percent of its weekend traffic coming from mobile.

It's not enough for a real estate professional to have a website for their business: the experience needs to be engaging, informative, and it must work on mobile. Whether it's on Amazon or brokerage listings pages, consumers expect a great browsing experience wherever they are.

With smartphones accounting for over 50 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, real estate websites need to address the wants of the modern consumer. This means lots of videos and images, rich search functionality, and a user-friendly experience across all devices: desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, and everything in between.

Until recently, this was a daunting task due to the wide variety of screen sizes and resolutions in the ever-growing mobile device market. Consequently, many real estate websites that looked and performed beautifully on a desktop monitor offered a lousy experience to smartphone users. While this all sounds dire, it will only be catastrophic for those who choose to ignore the coming multi-screen tidal wave. It's now cheaper than ever to build a real estate website, and with responsive technology, the ability to communicate via mobile is at the fingertips of every professional.

By the end of 2013, the number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth. If that doesn't inspire you to rethink your marketing strategy, the war may already be lost.   Let us know how you’re adapting to the mobile revolution. We’d love your comments.

Seth Price is Director of Sales and Marketing at Placester, a Cambridge based technology company specializing in building online marketing tools for the real estate industry.