Why You Should Stop Using Single Page Property Websites for Your Listings
At first glance, having a single page property website to market your listing seems like a good idea.
A single website with all of the information about your listing, all on a customized domain based on the property’s address; it seems like a good way to market a property, and usually, it’s pretty easy to get done.
But there are a lot of drawbacks to taking this approach.
Many companies push single page property websites as a way of adding value to their services, mainly photography and virtual tour companies, and even some brokerages, but as an agent with a well-developed digital strategy, there actually isn’t much value to you.
As part of your marketing plan, one of your main focuses should be pushing traffic to your website, always. If you’re pushing people interested in your listing to a website that’s outside of your main website, you’re not doing yourself, or your marketing strategy, any favors.
As an agent, you certainly want people to get information about your listing, but just as important, you want them to get more information about you, what you offer, and why you’re different, and they’ll have more opportunity to do that on your main website rather than a generic single property website.
You also want to get them into your marketing ecosystem via a newsletter signup, a retargeting strategy, or some other low commitment entry point, and chances are, they’re not going to get that from a single page property website; they’re likely going to get information about your listing, and then they’re going to close the browser and leave.
So why do agents do this? Mostly, because it’s an easy solution, but as I often advocate, what’s easier to do is usually the wrong solution.
One of the main reasons agents, and their clients, like single page property websites is because of the personalized domain. Telling your clients that if they go to: www.123fakestreet.com, they’ll see their property on its own website seems impressive.
But, it’s just as easy to purchase that domain and forward it to your listing on your website, and from a consumer’s perspective, there’s much more value to tell them that, yes, they’ll have their own domain for marketing purposes, but that the listing will be on your main website, where it will get more traffic, rank better in search results, and have a chance to be seen by a lot more people.
And, you have a much better chance of proving that to them, if you need to.
By using a domain that forwards to the listing on your main website, and then using that domain in your marketing efforts, you’ll also be able to account for all of the referral traffic your website gets from that domain, in addition to the complete overview of analytics that you’d already have.
One other consideration around using single property websites is that it will likely never rank in a search result, so it’s only good for direct traffic.
Basically, the chances of anyone doing a Google search for the listing address, and then finding your single property website organically is next to impossible; for the most part, because that website will have no authority.
Some companies, mostly photography companies, skip the domain all together,ย and just put your listing on a subdomain of their domain (like www.yourlisting.photographycompany.com), which is even worse. In this case, you’re fully promoting the photography company’s website traffic and not your own.
You’re much better off getting all of the information together for your listing, like photos, videos, property details, etc, and making a really beautiful, comprehensive, and strategic listing page on your own website that showcases your property in the best possible light, and use it as a place that you can push all of your marketing material for anyone that wants more information about your listing. And as a bonus, give them the opportunity to learn more about you and what you offer.
After all, the people that are looking at listings are likely interested in transacting, so the more opportunites you give them to learn about you the better.
At the end of the day, as part of a cohesive marketing strategy, you should always be pushing traffic to your website, and not to an outside source. You should avoid doing what’s easy and convenient, and instead, do what’s right to build you, your business, and your brand.
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