As we have been speaking to real estate professionals across the country I have realized that web vendors don’t necessarily guide us to the right decisions on what links we should have as our navigation on our website.  In fact, because they build solutions that are pretty flexible I have found that often real estate websites will have 10-20+ choices in their navigation menus.What exactly am I writing about?  I am writing about those real estate websites that have too many choices for a consumer to possibly choose from.  Real Estate Website Navigation You can see an example here.  Now, if I am new to this website, do you think you might get confused on where to go?

In order to make it easy on a new user to a website you need to make it easy for them to find what they need!  The 2 top items that a website visitor is looking for is:

  1. Listings
  2. Community Information

So if those are the top 2 items, why do real estate websites make it so hard to find?

Your guess is as good as mine.  Unfortunately web vendors make it so easy to add items to your navigation that we often don’t think about what we should really focus on.  Here are the top items to put on your navigation that will have visitors clicking deeper into your website instead of running away confused.

  1. MLS/Property Search - Make it obvious that they can search for properties.  Make sure this links to a friendly idx search tool (Wolfnet is one we have used with great success) that doesn’t require them to immediately sign in.
  2. Community Information - This should link to a page where you identify the communities that you service.  Keep it specific so people can easily identify your area of expertise.
  3. Buyers - This should link to a page that speaks about the different types of buyers.  You can address move-up buyers, first time buyers, and investors from here.
  4. Sellers - Crazy, I know! Here you can speak about the process of home selling and the different items for sellers to consider before listing their home.  It’s also a great place for sales statistics.

These are just 4 items to put on your navigation that would keep it mean and lean.  Focus on limiting the choices to less than 8 which will get visitors digging deep into your website instead of leaving confused.