6 Easy Ways To Improve Your Estate Sale Website

Coming from a web design background, I can tell you that websites are NEVER finished. Luckily, if you spend a little time every month making small changes, you can easily improve your estate sale website and build a space the truly serves the needs of your potential and current customers.

Always keep in mind that you are serving multiple audiences, potential clients who need estates liquidated and estate sale goers as well as your current clients (who may want to see how and where you are promoting their sales).

I've put together a list of 6 easy ways you can improve your estate sale website. In the coming months we will be diving deeper into this subject area, but for now I wanted to give you some quick wins if you are looking to make improvements asap.

6 Easy Ways To Improve Your Estate Sale Website

1. Pay Attention To Your Social Media Links

If you have no social media links on your site what are you waiting for? Get them up!  If you already have them on your site, keep reading.

When we first launched megaestatesales.com we wanted to get to know the estate liquidation business community.  The easiest way for us to do this was by visiting estate sale company websites and social media pages.The number one thing we found was that while most sites had social media icons, many of them were unlinked or were using sharing links (links people click when they want to share a page). Both of these are a big no no.  If a potential customer clicks a social media link and finds it is broken, they may end their engagement there.  Obviously that is not what you want.

By simply ensuring that all your social media links work, you will not lose valuable followers on your social media channels. Why should you not use a share link?  Share links are great for blog posts, but when someone sees a social media icon on your header, footer or homepage, the expectation is that they can use that link to follow you, not share your page.  In the social media biz a follow has much more potential since it creates a relationship, then a share link does so you can have a win win situation by ensuring that your social icons link to your social pages.

Expert Example - Girlfriends Estate Sales:
We love Girlfriends Estate Sales treatment of their social media links.  They place them in their footer with a design consistent with the rest of their site.  We also appreciate that they narrow it down to their most active channels - you don't need to list all social media properties on your site, only the ones you really want to drive traffic to.

2. Make It Easy To Contact You

Most estate sale websites have a way for potential customers to contact them.  This is essential.  What a lot of websites fail to do is offer different ways to contact them.

Why is this important?  When you look at your customers as a diverse group of people, with different preferences and needs, you see that not everyone wants to contact you in the same way.

For a client that needs assurance or has a lot of in depth questions about how you run your estate sales, a phone number may be what they are looking for.

For someone who is used to using the internet and wants a simple means of contacting you, a contact form might work best.

For a person who is busy but has more to say then what a contact form allows, an email address may be your best bet.

Give your clients a number of ways to contact you so that you don't lose out on potential business simply because you didn't offer a means of communication that suited your customer.

At the minimum offer a phone number, an email address, and a contact form. If you are active on social media (which you should be), let them know that too.

Expert Example - Xcntric Estate Sale Services:

Xcntric Estate Sale Services does a fabulous job offering customers multiple means of contacting them.  We like that they even added their mailing list to their contact page, giving customers a way to stay in constant contact with you is always a good idea.

3. Start A Blog

Okay, so maybe not super simple, but you can at least start thinking about how a blog can serve your estate sale company.

Blogs are a great way to build community.  If you can spare the time to write at least 1 post a week, you can build a marketing tool that far outreaches the power of a static website.

A blog not only gives you a place to promote yourself, it also gives your fans ways to share your company news with their friends.  Having a major estate sale? - spend some extra time and do a major write up on your blog.  Getting a lot of questions about a service you offer? Cut down on time spent on communication by writing a blog post about the service and share it when someone asks you about it.

Of all the features on the estate sale websites we reviewed, this one was missing the most and we believe it has the most potential for helping estate sale companies grow.

Expert Example - Hugh's Estate Sales:

For an impressive example check out Hugh's Estate Sales Blog.  It is seriously a great example of how you can mix and match content to appeal to all your different audiences. They post everything from estate sales,  to informational pieces, to business accomplishments, to estate sale tips.

4. Put Your Services Front and Center

While putting your sales on your website is important, estate sale listing sites are really going to be the driver of new leads since they reach a wider audience then you can.  Where your website can really excel is in getting you clients who have estates to liquidate.

If you have a services page already make sure the link to it is in your main navigation, if you don't have one, make one.  Use this space to answer potential clients questions, show them how you do things and explain how you are different from other companies in your area.

Expert Example - Steward Estate Sales:
For a great example of a services page check out Steward Estate Sales services page.  We love how in-depth every sub page is and also how clear and simple the information is, while still answering common questions.

5. Showcase Your Team

People relate to people.  One of the beautiful things about estate sale companies is that they are not huge corporations.  Take advantage of this and show your team (even if your team is only you).

Use pictures and bios to help showcase the richness of what you have to offer and to make potential clients more comfortable with trusting you with their estate.

Once this page is created share it often on your social media pages and let people know how proud you are of the business and team you have built.

Expert Example - Kuzak's Closet:

Kuzak's Closet does a great job of calling out individual team members through fun bios and friendly photos.

6. Link To The Websites Your Promote Your Sales On

Your current and potential clients want to see how and where you will promote their estate sales. Most estate sale listing sites offer badges or graphics that you can put on your website.

This is a simple way to give proof that their sales will be promoted across multiple platforms.  We recommend you create a section in your footer for these links so that they are visible throughout your site, but you might also consider creating a page where you discuss how you promote sales.

If you are a Mega Estate Sales lister you can find your badge here.

Expert Example - Remington Estate Sales:

Remington Estate Sales does a wonderful job of featuring where they promote their sales while at the same time maintaining consistency with their design.  Check out their footer to see how they do it.

We hope you have found this list helpful as you think about how you can improve your estate sale website.  Be sure to check back in the coming months as we tackle how to use websites, social media and online promotion to build a better estate sale business.

Have any burning website design or technical questions? Let us know in the comments below.  Also be sure to share your estate sale websites and auction websites below to.  We love seeing what you've built!