Like many real estate marketing ideas, there is fierce debate among agents about the ROI of single property websites. Some say they’re simply not worth the time, effort, or money, while others claim they’re great for lead generation and winning new listings. Who’s right?
In this article, we give you everything you need to know to answer that question for yourself, and we’ll show you how to set up your own single property websites inexpensively and easily. Okay, settle in, grab a cup of coffee and let’s get started.
What is a Single Property Website?
Like the name implies, a single property website is a website used to market one individual property. The defining characteristic of a single property site is a unique URL that is the same as the property’s address (i.e. www.123mainstreet.com.) With a real estate website builder like Placester, you can create your main IDX website as well as single property websites for an additional $5 per month. Here’s an example of what it could look like:
How to Make Single Property Websites in 2017 & Cost
Now that you have a better idea of arguments for and against single property sites, let’s take a look at how people are making them in 2017.
The DIY Option
- Cost: Around $60 for the template & less than $4 per month for domain and hosting
- Pros: Flexible, you have total creative control (for example, you can add similar IDX listings to the site)
- Cons: Time consuming, learning curve
If you’re already running a WordPress website, then creating a single property website on your own can be quick and easy. If you haven’t, check out our guide here. It’s easier than you think!
Here’s a quick rundown of how easy it is.
1. Choose a Domain Name and Purchase Hosting
The first step in designing any website is to claim your domain name and find somewhere to purchase hosting. Typically, you’re going to want to choose the listing address as the domain name, but if you have a special listing you can get creative. Something like “{local neighborhood} waterfrontretreat.com” will have the added benefit of potentially ranking for more local searches.
We highly recommend using BlueHost, where you can buy a domain name and a year of hosting for only $2.95 per month. Nervous about making your own website? It’s easier than you think! Check out our guide on how to build a real estate WordPress website with IDX.
2. Install WordPress
After buying your domain and hosting, the next step is to install WordPress. While installing WordPress is pretty easy, I recommend using our step-by-step guide which has easy to follow visual instructions and extra tips. Check it out here.
3. Choose and Install a Single Property Website Theme
Now you just need to choose and install a WordPress theme for your single property website. If you’re looking for our picks, check out our guide here. If you don’t don’t find something you like, check out Template Monster or ThemeForest.
Quick Sale would be my recommendation. It’s not super cheap at $59, but it’s drop dead gorgeous, includes IDX integration, parallax scrolling, video backgrounds, responsive design, and has awesome lead capture options. Here’s what it looks like:
For a live Demo of the Quick Sale Theme, click here.
Another DIY Option: Subdomains or Single Property Listing Pages
- Costs: Free if you already have a WordPress Website Pros: Affordable, keeps all traffic on your site
- Cons: No unique domain name
Okay, they’re not technically single property websites, but you can very easily build a landing page or subdomain on a site you already own. For example, with a real estate website builder like Easy Agent PRO, you can easily create your own beautifully designed IDX website and then build unlimited customized single listing pages. Click here for a $1 trial. Here’s what one of their single property landing page templates looks like:
Alternatively, if you’re using Bluehost, you can buy unique domain names for around $20 per year and just redirect them to your single property listing page on your site.
Turnkey Single Property Website Providers
- Costs: Varies, around $50 per year, per site
- Pros: Fast, no learning curve, can get custom domains
- Cons: Less flexible, don’t always get a custom domain name
As with most pain points for agents, tech companies have stepped in to offer a faster, easier way to build single property websites. Here are a few options to consider.
Koaware
Koaware is a relatively new single property site provider that offers agents gorgeous and modern looking parralax scrolling (aka long single page websites where the background stays the same as you scroll down the page) single property websites. Using their dead simple drag and drop online interface, you can quickly and easily upload pictures, videos, and Matterport tours.
One single property website with a custom domain name will run you $39 per year. If you don’t need a custom domain, you can get one for as low as $13 per year. They also offer bulk discounts for multiple sites, but pricing here is unfortunately based off a rather confusing point system.
Check out an example live Koaware single property site here.
RealBird
Among other online offerings, RealBird provides agents with clean, well designed single property websites. Like Koaware, they offer custom domains and an easy to use online interface to build your site.
The main difference is that pricing for RealBird sites is only $99 per year for an unlimited number of subdomains on one domain.
Check out an example live RealBird single property site here.
AgencyLogic
AgencyLogic also provides nice looking single property websites that allow agents to post pictures, videos, and Matterport tours through a drag and drop interface.
Pricing starts at $50 per year for a custom domain websites and hosting, and goes up to $875 per year ($35 each) for 25 custom domain websites and hosting.
Check out an example live AgencyLogic single property site here.
10 Reasons In Support of Single Property Websites
Since we’re in a relationship driven business and studies have shown that optimism can actually make you more money, let’s start with the positives. Here are 8 reasons why building single property websites can make you more money in 2017.
1. Homeowners LOVE Them
While many of us treat analytics, click through rates and conversions as gospel, homeowners only see one thing: A pretty, flashy website made especially for them. As you might have guessed this is especially true for baby boomers. Since NAR statistics for 2015 tell us that the average age for homeowners last year was 54 years old, that means a huge percentage of your potential seller clients will too.
There are two very good reasons for this. First of all, while baby boomers use social media— according to one study 82.3% of boomers use facebook— you would be hard pressed to find someone above the age of 35 who knows how to build their own website. That means they will see you as someone who understands the latest technology. Second, even if they know how to code better than Bill Gates, it shows them you are pulling out all the stops to sell their property.
Since many of your potential seller clients will be enamored with anything new and shiny, offering single property websites as a perk for hiring you can help you land listings. You can use the same single property site over and over again in your listing presentation to show off your digital marketing skills.
2. You Can Easily Advertise for Open Houses
What could be better than having everything all in one place? With a real estate website builder like Placester, you can create a single-property website and post your open house. This way, visitors to your site can more easily view the property, or schedule a showing for a different time, directly from the page. Placester charges only $5 additional to their monthly price for this feature. Click here to get started.
3. Single Property Websites Might Help Your Main Site Rank In Google
While most agents understand that using the right keywords can help your site rank on Google, many don’t realize that links from other sites can be just as important. If you had to sum up great SEO on a bumper sticker you would end up with something like;
“Great content with targeted keywords + links from other sites = high page rank.”
Sure there are a few other factors to consider, but at the end of the day if you follow this formula you site will rank highly on Google. Having a few dozen single property websites all with links pointing back to your website can have a positive effect on your Google pagerank.
4. You Can Get Creative With Lead Capture Options
If you have a favorite lead capture form, call to action, or even a popup, you won’t be able to use them on Zillow. On a single property site you can. For example, let’s say a “click to call” button converts well on your site. You can include one on on your single property site.
5. They Can Make the Home Appear More Special for Buyers
Let’s face it. Listings portals like Zillow and Realtor.com spend enormous sums of money designing navigation to makes people click on more listings. If you’ve ever searched for a home yourself you know what I’m talking about. The urge to look at one more listing, or to compare the one you’re looking at to others is almost irresistible.
If they’re looking at your listing on a single property website however, that temptation is removed. In fact, the only thing they can do on your single property site is to click on your lead capture form. Even better, if you offer some unique information, video, or pictures on the single property site, they will be much more likely to share it with friends than a typical Zillow listing.
Finally, since many home buyers will come from the same demographic as sellers, many will be impressed with the fact that you went through the trouble to make the site. It may even make the home seem more exclusive and luxurious that it is. After all, no one spends time, effort and money making a unique website for a crummy house.
6. Historic or Very High End Homes Practically Demand Their Own Website
If you have a historic, unique or very high end home, then some buyers may even expect the home to have it’s own website. After all, being lumped in with every other listing on Zillow can make even the the most spectacular home look like just another place to live. If you have a special listing, you need to go the extra mile with your marketing efforts. A single property website can be a great way to do that. Here’s an example:
7. You Can Have Total Creative Freedom and Control Over How Your Listing is Presented
While every home is unique, they are all presented in the exact same way on listing sites. The same layout with the same information in the same places. Boring.
With a single property site you have no restrictions at all and can present your listing any way you’d like. Do you want to start with a full screen video or a closeup of a historic detail while music plays? No problem. You can have complete creative control over your own site.
8. Single Property Websites Can Show Up in Google Search Results Even After the Property is Sold
While the odds of your single property websites coming up as the number one search result for a difficult keyword like “New York City Real Estate” are slim, they might come up for very specific google searches. For example, someone might google the property address out of curiosity, or do a search for houses on that block, neighborhood, or street. That means your website, with your contact info and lead capture, might show up for these searches. Just make sure you label the property as sold on the site in order to avoid confusion and potential NAR ethics violations.
9. They’re Perfect for Rental Buildings of Any Size
If you dabble in property management or work in a city with a thriving rental market, then your landlords will absolutely love you for building them a single property website. If it’s well made, you can keep a site like this live for years. Every time a prospective tenant googles the address, they will get your site with your lead capture forms.
10. They’re a Must for New Developments
While landlords will love you for building them a site, developers might fire you if you don’t. Teaser sites and listing sites are practically par for the course for new developments these days. For example, check out the site for 50 North 5th Street in Williamsburg Brooklyn.* Though the site was designed and built more than 2 years ago, it’s still up and still generating leads.
*Full disclosure, I used to work for the company that launched this development.
5 Reasons Against Single Property Websites
Now that we’ve gone over the reasons why creating single property websites can have a great ROI, let’s take a look at the negative side.
1. You’re Sending Traffic Away From Your Website
Let’s face it, building a website and getting it to rank well on Google can take a significant investment of money, time, and effort. Sending traffic to a single property site means fewer visitors to your main site. There are three big problems with this.
- Traffic helps your website rise in Google search results. The fewer visitors to your site, the lower it will rank on Google.
- You probably have more effective lead capture, or CRM integration, on your main site.
- Your main site will have the ability to use a retargeting pixel to advertise on Facebook.
2. You Can Create Single Property Subdomains or Single Listing Pages on Your Main Site
Instead of building individual single property sites that take time, money, and effort to build and maintain, why not create single property listing pages on your own site? You’ll have even more creative control, you can keep the traffic on your site and you can take advantage of your current lead capture, CRM integration, or retargeting setup.
For example, with a real estate website builder like Easy Agent PRO, you can create single listing pages on your site. All your leads from your landing pages will be stored in your lead dashboard and will automatically send to your CRM. Click here for a $1 trial.
3. They’re Usually Redundant
While you can certainly provide new information, pictures, or video on your single property site, it might actually hurt your marketing efforts. After all, if the extra content on the single property website is useful or valuable for buyers, why wouldn’t you post it on Zillow where it has a chance to be seen by thousands instead of dozens of leads?
4. Single Property Websites Might Get Very Little (or no) traffic
The hard truth is that in some areas, very few people will even see your Zillow listing, let alone visit your single property site. If you only get a handful of visitors is it really worth the time, effort and expense to make single property sites?
5. Single Property Websites Take Time, Money, and Effort to Make
As you’ll learn below, you can create single property websites relatively cheaply and easily, but they’re not free, and neither is your time. If you have more than a few sites running at the same time, you might be looking at another $50-100 per month. While this might not break the bank, if you’re not seeing a return then that money can and should be put to better use.
The Bottom Line
Depending on your marketing needs, single property websites can have a great ROI. If you’re familiar with WordPress you can make your own, or take advantage of turnkey single property website providers to make one quickly and easily. If you’re interested in creating a single property website or even a full fledged IDX website using WordPress, check out our guide here. Remember, you can create single property websites using WordPress without paying for extra hosting. So it might just be worth creating a fresh new site.
Don’t forget to check out Bluehost, where you can get a year of hosting and a domain name for only $2.95 a month.
tamara
this is great info and I plan to share it with my Real Estate friends. However, I know that most of them are not as tech savvy as I am, so I especially like the options where they don’t have to do a lot of the work themselves. I see the trade offs, though and that you have options across the spectrum. I agree that these property websites are great and I like the idea of keeping them on the main site and increasing the main site rankings with these single property websites.
Great job, thanks for all the info!
0
0
Hey Tamara,
Glad you liked the article and thanks for stopping by.
0
0