Finding a creative website name (URL) for real estate agents is harder than ever… here is everything you need to know when picking the domain name for your real estate website!
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Choosing A Name For Your Real Estate Website
Picking a domain name for your website address feels super important (and it is!)
You will be using this a LOT… on yard signs, business cards, car signs, your email address, functionally anywhere you are doing marketing for your business!
First off, you want it to be easy to remember! I find that “English speaking” order works best. For example “tampa bay realty” is easier to remember than “realty bay tampa” even though the words are the same.
You also want to avoid double letters if possible… for example, www.chrissellstampa.com is hard because there is a weird “double S” in there.
If your first or last name is commonly misspelled then for sure don't use it in your domain name.
It really does make sense to take some time choosing a domain… but if you are a super new agent or experienced with a new website without any idea of what to choose, how do you know what will be RIGHT?
Here are a bunch of things to consider when picking great domains!
Realtor® Is Out!
Let's get this one out of way! You can NOT use any of these kinds of domain names…
- www.californiarealtor.com
- www.realtorsallyjo.com
- www.sandkeyrealtors.com
Nothing with Realtor® in it at all!
NAR, the National Association of Realtors holds the trademark to that word and they defend it vigorously!
Can you use Realtor in your domain name any way?
Nope, not if you ARE a Realtor, doesn't matter. Nope, not if someone said you could use it with your name, nope, nope, nope, NO REALTOR!
The problem with choosing a “Realtor” domain name is that you may get away with it long enough to get signs made, business cards printed, etc. but eventually they will send you a cease and desist and you will have to get a new name AND pay to rebrand everything!
Real Estate Terms You CAN Use In Your URL
- realty
- real estate
- real estate agent
- homes
- homesforsale
- houses
- condo
- selling
- sales
- properties
We will talk a wee bit more about why you would pick different kinds of these words in your real estate business, but all of them would be fine!
Who Are You Prospecting For?
So now let's talk about lead generation and websites. Realty is a term the general public recognizes as being a “real estate related” term and it is neutral.
SeattleHomesForSale.com or MountainHomesForSale.com are buyers agent websites. The promise of those names is that you will find a list of homes for sale in those areas AND that you will be able to search the MLS for more like homes.
“Agent”, “realty” and “selling” are all more listing agent kind of names. SellingGeorgia.com or SantaFeRealty.com all seem to be more focused on listing agents.
So let's step back a wee minute and talk about why you would want to be a buyers agent or a listing agent.
Traditionally listings generate two buyer sales “automatically” so focusing on listings is what most more seasoned agents do.
Additional Resource :: 8 reasons it is better to be a listing agent than a buyers agent
Targeting Neighborhoods For Farming
One great way to get listings is to farm an area! When I was an agent I farmed “Dunedin Isles” which was a sprawling community including waterfront homes, starter homes and some move-ups in the middle price range.
SellingDunedinIsles.com or DunedinIslesRealEstateAgent.com would be a great URL for that area!
(I KNOW, having to use “real estate agent” instead of “realtor” is so much longer, but remember… NO REALTOR EVER!)
Your farm area can be a neighborhood, condo building, town or city, just try to keep it a size that you can cover easily!
Additional Resource :: Real Estate Marketing To A Farm Area
Local Terms Sometimes Work
Okay, now let's talk about some of the local “slang” terms in your area.
For example, when I lived in the Denver area, people talked about the “Front Range” which was all the towns along the “front” of the Rocky Mountains like Fort Collins, Golden and Colorado Springs.
When I first got there it seemed like calling a real estate website something like “www.FrontRangeRealty.com” would be a good idea… but no one really could say EXACTLY where that was!
If I was focusing on mountain towns I would do www.ColoradoMountianHomes.com WAY before I did anything Front Range.
Now, there are some areas of cities that are well known. For example, there is an area of Denver called “Wash Park” or the Washington Park neighborhood that has big old houses (lots of commissions). Basing your website name off of that area would help with farming that particular community!
How Many Searches Does It Get?
Another way I knew that Front Range is bad is that I checked to see how many searches a month it got on Ubersuggest…
ALL of the searches for “Front Range” were super low volume, and that is considering that I wasn't even focusing on the real estate aspect.
JUST Denver real estate has almost three times as many searches a month than Front Range does all together.
It is worth taking the time to see how many searches are done for your chosen area!
Domain Name Doesn't Count As Much In Ranking Anymore
Years ago your domain name could mean a sure ranking in Google. Get the domain “www.SOHOrealestate.com” and you would have ranked number one for the search term “soho real estate”, making it easy for people to find your site.
But the search algorithms have changed and now you don't get as much of a “boost” with your domain name so you can be more creative if you like!
Sohorealestate.com was still on the first page, but after Zillow, Realtor.com and Property Shark.
How To Search Many Domain Names At Once
Say I was going to try to pick a domain name for my local area… I could search a URL, then try another and another. But Godaddy has a great bulk search feature that lets you search many domain name ideas at once…
They will tell you which ones are available and even give you more ideas of what you can try!
Should You Use A .NET or .INFO Domain Name
I would strongly recommend that you find a good .com domain name. .Net and .Info are not bad domain name extensions (don't change yours if you already have one) but having the .com gives more authority to your website.
Should You Use The .REALTOR Domain Name
I would NOT recommend using the “official” .REALTOR type of domain name. It is confusing to regular people.
For example, a gal was trying to tell me her domain name and she sent over [email protected] and we had about a 10 minute back and forth where I was like, is that .com or what (it just doesn't look right!)
And I am not the general public. I have been using the internet daily since 1999!
You Can “Point” To Parts of Your Website
Last but not least, you don't have to have just one domain name. You could do something like TaraSellsHomes.com as your main website name that goes on all your “normal” marketing materials and THEN have other domains pointing to parts of your website!
Here is what it would look like…
This is more advanced than what you need if you are just starting out. Just wanted to let you know it was available if you get too worried about missing something later on!
Real Estate Domain Name Wrapup
Whew, that is a A LOT to think about! For sure take some time to create a domain name that you love, but don't get stuck in “analysis paralysis”!
Because so many domain names are “taken” already, you may have to pick something that is good enough for your real estate company!