Why updating photos is an important part of your marketing strategy and brand.
High-quality images for your real estate company website and social media posts are more important than ever. The pandemic has led to many potential home-buyers searching for and viewing homes for sale on the internet, and many choose their realtors by doing online research and checking out their websites and social media profiles. If you don’t have professional photographs on your site and social media, you could be losing out on potential business. Once you have professional images for your site, it’s important that you keep them up-to-date and fresh. Here’s how to get the best images and how often you should change them to elevate your brand—and success.
Why High-Quality Images Are Important
The best real estate website design companies will tell you that you can’t have a high-end site without high-quality images. Professional photography is an important part of your branding as an agent. You and your team are the faces of the company, and you want to put your best face forward when it comes to images on your site. You should look professional, approachable, and accessible to potential clients. Buying and selling a home is a very personal experience, and potential clients want to see who they will be working with before they contact you.
Having high-quality images of your properties for sale is arguably more important than having good photos of your team. According to a recent study, homes with one photo spent 70 days on the market versus 32 days on the market for homes with 20 photos. Another study showed that homes with high-quality photography sell 32 percent faster than those with sub-par images. Potential buyers spend more time looking at images of the home on a real estate company website than they spend looking at or reading anything else. They also engage more with social media posts that feature quality home images. In today’s competitive environment where many buyers purchase a home based on images alone, you simply must have professional, high-end images of all the homes you represent.
How to Get the Best Images for Your Site
Getting the best images for your real estate company website comes down to one thing: working with the right professional photographer. When it comes to choosing a photographer, you need to look at their experience as well as examples of their work. In most cases, choosing two different photographers is the best option. Pick a photographer skilled in portraits to take images of your team and choose an experienced property photographer to take images of your listings.
Narrowing down your options to a few favorites is always a good place to start. Ask your colleagues, friends, and family which photographers they’ve used in the past and been impressed with. Then take a look at other real estate websites or those of real estate website design companies in your area and identify which have the best photography. If the photographer isn’t mentioned on their site, reach out and ask them who they used. Once you have a few different options, it’s always a good idea to run the ideas past your luxury web design agency to see if they have any input. They may have worked with certain photographers in the past or currently work with them and can give you more insight to help you make a decision.
Once you’ve chosen a photographer, set up an initial session so you can discuss exactly what you need, your timeline, and your expectations. This will help you get started on the right foot and eliminate future confusion or miscommunication.
How Often to Change Images
Once you find the right photographer and get high-quality images for your site, don’t make the mistake of thinking your work is done. Keeping your images relevant and up-to-date is an ongoing process. Here’s how often to change them.
Listing Images
In a seller’s market, it’s likely your listings will sell before the need arises to take new images. However, there are some situations where a new round of quality images may be needed to sell a home. They include:
• When a season changes. If all the images you have of a home for sale show snow-covered yards and icicles hanging off the gutters, you should have new images taken once the season changes. Potential buyers want to picture themselves in the home, and that can be difficult for them to do if they only see the home in a prior season.
• When updates are made. Some sellers continue to make improvements on their homes after they’re listed. If any significant changes are made to the home, get new photos taken that show the updates.
• When the home is lingering on the market. If a home is just not selling, there could be something about the photos that buyers are not connecting to. If the home has been on the market a few months and no offers have been made, consider having new pics taken.
Team Images
It’s not easy to get team images that everyone is happy with, so the last thing you want to do is rock the boat and suggest new photo sessions once you have good photos for your real estate company website. Here is when they are necessary:
• When your team changes. Having photos of those who aren’t with your team any longer or having photos that don’t include new members looks bad for your brand. Have new photos taken when important people join or leave your team.
• When the photos are outdated. Clothing, hairstyles, and fashions change rapidly. If your team photo or headshot is a few years old, it can look outdated and send the wrong message to potential clients. Make a point to have new photos taken every couple of years at a minimum.
• When your luxury web design agency updates your site’s look. Some photo backgrounds and styles just don’t go with certain designs. If your web designer suggests a new photoshoot, get one booked.
Your real estate company website is a dynamic entity that should always be in a state of improvement. Having high-quality, professional images that are being frequently updated is the best way to represent the homes you are trying to sell and keep your brand fresh and engaging.
