Have you noticed it? I have…people now days walk around or drive in their car staring at their phones! If you haven’t noticed this crazy phenomenon just look around you while you are driving, or at the mall, or pretty much anywhere else. People have their heads buried into their phones. Millions of people today own Smart-phones(I-Phones, Droids, Blackberry, etc.) By the end of 2012 over 50% of ALL Google searches will take place with a Smart-phone. What are these people looking at? EVERYTHING!! So ask yourself an important question: Are your Real Estate websites optimized for mobile devices?
You Knew it was Coming
The trend has been growing quite awhile now. Less and Less people go home to their PC and fire it up to start searching for things online. They are bored in line at Starbucks, at the mall, grocery store, and they search for what they want right there! Consumers also do the exact same thing when looking for Real Estate. Since over 50% of internet searches are done on mobile devices it is VERY important that your Real Estate website is fully functional and optimized for mobile devices. If it isn’t then your site is not going to work for these consumers searching for you and your services and they will click off immediately and go somewhere else.
How Do I Know?
So…how do you know if your Real Estate website is able to be viewed and used properly by consumers on a mobile device? Lets me tell you a story…the other day I was looking at a business card of a prospect. This particular agent marketed himself as a “Luxury Agent” which means he sold the higher end homes. As usual I saw that he had a website so I typed in the URL to check it out and I gasped when I saw it! I saw this pictures on the top of his page move in and out and fade in and out. It all looked nice but I knew right away what this illusion was….FLASH!! Flash is not your friend when it comes to viewing your Real Estate website on a mobile device. I then got out my i-Phone 4S and looked up his site…Yep…the black screen of death is what I saw. Flash causes your website to not show up correctly on mobile devices. If your Real Estate website has flash on it dump it right away! Call your web design company and have them change it or fire them for not knowing this key factor.
Make it Easy
When consumers want something they want it right now. I know people that will be at Macy’s and will look up Nordstrom’s website on their phone to see if they have a shoe, shirt, or pants they want before they decide to walk to other side of the mall to buy it. Sounds crazy but since we have the ability to do this…why not? Make your Real Estate website easy to use for consumers especially from a Smartphone. You want that consumer to stay on your site…look around to gather information, get their questions answered and then to fill out the form below which allows you to capture a LEAD.
Takeaway
The trend of consumers looking for anything and everything…including all of their Real Estate needs will continue to grow. The latest iPad just came out and the new i-Phone 5 is coming in September. With more tablets and phones coming out more and more people will have them and use these tools as their main source to search online…not the big PC they have at their house. It is very important that everything that is online and pertains to your Real Estate business is able to be viewed, and used correctly from these mobile devices.
Need help with your Real Estate Marketing? My name is Wade Vander Molen and I am the Director of Sales and Marketing for Stewart Title and Escrow in Fairfax, VA. I help Realtors just like you grow their business…lets chat!
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