To compete, your brokerage or MLS website needs these capabilities — and the right partner to implement them
Real estate searches have skyrocketed by 253% in the past four years. And according to the NAR, 90% of home buyers searched online for their next home, with 69% of home shoppers using terms like “Las Vegas homes for sale” to being their search.
Despite this, many brokerages, offices, and even MLSs rely on outdated website technology that does not allow them to compete with the big guys in their local search results.
One such MLS was ValleyMLS.com. Northern Alabama’s leading MLS since 1967, Valley MLS used to have a dated customer-facing website that was not optimized for real estate. Tammy Owen, Technology Director of Valley MLS, said, “We began to realize that the site was underperforming. It had disappointing visitor traffic and lacked even basic features, like counting and tracking leads, which are super important for MLSs to be able to do.”
Today, ValleyMLS.com is the most-visited MLS site in Alabama, with 1.2 million unique visitors and 2.7 million page views as of the end of 2020. Their success has attracted the attention and interest of no fewer than six other Alabama associations who work together to showcase listings across the entire north of the state and major metropolitan areas like Birmingham and Montgomery.
What enabled ValleyMLS.com to perform so well?
- Stunning, scalable design
Effective websites need to be simple, eye-catching, and easy to use. Valley MLS worked with Constellation1’s Front Office team to create a beautiful website that would allow them to stand out and incorporate the design elements they needed, including ad space. ValleyMLS.com was built with growth in mind, allowing the organization to add features and partner with other associations as time goes on.
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Customized property filters
For MLSs, the most important feature of their website is the property search. They have a wealth of data they need to make available to members and homebuyers quickly and easily. Websites without robust search capabilities are getting crushed by industry giants.
Constellation1 leveraged its data expertise to make all of Valley MLS’s dozens of fields searchable with more than 100 custom filters. Now users can narrow down listings with incredible accuracy.
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Search engine optimization
Websites are useless if no one can find them. Search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO, is more complicated than it might seem. Algorithms and rankings change frequently, making it difficult for internal marketing teams to keep up. Valley MLS relies on Constellation1’s dedicated SEO experts who constantly optimize ValleyMLS.com so that it consistently ranks at the top of the search results in its market.
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Powerful lead generation
MLSs care about leads. With its highly ranked site and powerful property search, ValleyMLS.com now generates better, higher-quality organic leads for free. Because Valley MLS leads are already qualified, agents are more likely to seal the deal. Before revamping its website, Valley MLS couldn’t track leads at all. Now, they not only know how many leads they are generating, they can easily funnel them to their members.
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Expert team behind the scenes
When the Valley MLS team chose to partner with Constellation1, they knew they were tapping into more than 20 years of front office expertise. From design to implementation to rollout, Constellation1 proved early on that it had the right experience to meet deadlines and exceed expectations for a smooth and easy go-live.
“From day one, we have never, ever looked back or had any regrets,” said Owen. “The site was up and running on time and since then, the entire Constellation1 team has been incredible, releasing updates and enhancements and taking care of any issues. The customer support has been excellent. In my 39 years of IT experience, Constellation1 is one of the best vendor partners I’ve ever worked with.”
Learn how to set your website apart from the competition with Constellation1 Websites and read our Valley MLS customer story here.
As originally shared on Inman.com
