ASK MR. INTERNET

Web Sites
Web Eye for the REALTOR® Guy or Girl

A few tweaks can make a big difference on your site.

BY MICHAEL RUSSER

At last November’s REALTORS® Conference & Expo, my virtual team and I adapted an idea from reality television and showed dozens of eager REALTORS® how to do quick and inexpensive “instant” makeovers of their business Web sites. If you missed us in San Francisco, don’t worry. Here are the highlights of common problems and our “Web eye” solutions for the REALTOR® girl or guy.

• Targeting. The No. 1 reason most real estate Web sites don’t generate viable leads is that they have no specific target audience. An untargeted site tries to speak to everyone and thus ends up talking to no one. A highly targeted site is designed for a specific niche market (e.g., first-time buyers, seniors, waterfront property owners, high-end properties). The underlying idea is that all prospects in a particular niche have similar concerns, aspirations, and emotional responses about the real estate process. Identifying these specific needs and gearing high-value, specific content to them will help ensure your site answers the unspoken visitor question: “What’s in it for me?” A targeted site may not yield you more visitors, but you’ll be much more likely to convert those people who respond to you because they will perceive that your service is ideally suited to their needs. A great example of a highly targeted site is http://www.sellmyhome101.com, which generates listings by focusing only on people interested in selling their homes.
  
• Branding. Site branding is the process of differentiating yourself so that your target market associates your Web site with both valuable information and a unique logo, marketing line, or image that brings your value proposition to mind. For example, http://www.duckin.com is one of the best-branded real estate sales associate sites on the Net. It’s targeted to buyers of Seattle waterfront properties. The site generates an enormous amount of business and springs instantly to the minds of past users because of its clever use of duck motifs. Also keep in mind that a recognized brand creates value, making your business eminently saleable and possibly providing you with a lucrative exit strategy somewhere down the road.
  
• Design. A Web site’s design should be congruent with the target market and consistent throughout the site. For example, too-cute graphics might turn off high-end, sophisticated buyers. It’s also important not to add so many graphic elements that your site’s loading time slows to a crawl. Remember there are still a big percentage of people who don’t have high-speed Internet access. If your site takes longer than 12 or 13 seconds to load on a dial-up connection, then you are probably losing prospects.
  
• Content. Your site’s copy should be personal (as if you were having a conversation with your visitors), engaging (inviting interaction by asking open-ended questions and involving words such as “imagine” and “describe”), and customized with high-value content that is consistent with your target market. Online veteran and top producer Alice Held’s Web site is a great example of these ideas, as well as of design.
  
• Navigation. Keep all content no more than three clicks away. Your site navigation scheme should be consistent on every page so that visitors can locate information easily. Ideally, you also should have a site map that provides a link to every element on your site from one page. The easier you make it to get around your site, the more likely people will stay there. My own Web site is a good example of all these features.
  
• Orientation. Your site content also should reflect the unique needs and desires of Internet-empowered consumers, who usually want to keep control of the relationship and decide when they want to contact you. To appeal to these consumers, be sure you have a link to your privacy policy on every page. Likewise, don’t expect Internet-empowered consumers to complete forms and give you contact information until they are ready to divulge it. My own site is scrupulous about assuring visitors that their privacy will remain sacred.
  
  If you’re ready to develop your own “Web eye” and turn it religiously on your online presence, my entire makeover checklist also is available.
  
  
  Previously by Ask Mr. Internet:
  Bring Your Site Alive With Multimedia
  Ask Mr. Internet: Spammed to a Halt
  Let Your Virtual Assistant Do It
  Searching All Contacts
  
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