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Dust Off That Website!
Bridging the gap between being posted on the web to being profitable from the web is a challenge to virtually all Realtors. Web pages are essentially passive marketing. Unless you take specific steps to make your web marketing efforts "active," most visitors will have little motivation to contact you. If you would like to generate more calls from your website, here are six simple strategies for "keeping it fresh":
- Make your website about your visitors - not you. Virtually all agents use their home page to post their picture and give an infomercial about themselves. In general, you have about 5 -10 seconds to grab the visitor's attention before they "surf" to another site. If the primary focus on the first page is you, virtually all visitors will move on to another site.
To make your site more appealing to visitors, remember the primary reason they are visiting your site is to preview properties. If you only have one or two listings or if you're listing inventory isn't accessible on your home page, there's little reason for the visitor to ever contact you. The easiest way to address this issue is to create a link to your company's website that will let visitors view all the properties listed by your company. Alternatively, you could jointly market your listings with several other agents from your company. The more homes a visitor can view on your site, the more likely they are to call you. - Most agents forget to "ask for the order." In other words, before and after each listing on your site, be sure to state: "For a private showing or for additional information on this property, please email me (Insert your email address) or call me (insert your phone number or pager number)."
OR, for potential sellers:
"Please click here (provide a link to your personal email) for a complimentary market analysis on your property" - Offer the visitor something for visiting your site. A simple way to do this is with an email newsletter. While there are a number of services who provide content for email newsletters, remember the visitor is probably most interested in current listings and current sales. The best newsletters include great content and current listing and sales data. Obviously, to subscribe, they have to give you their contact information.
- Increase your "stickiness". "Stickiness" refers to how long visitors stay on your site. To have visitors stay longer on your site, have a wide variety of resources someone moving into your area might find to be useful. For example, most people visiting real estate web pages are buyers. Consequently, have a page of "Frequently Asked Buyer Questions," a "mortgage calculator," as well as Chamber of Commerce information about your service area. Information on schools, crime statistics, transportation, recreation, etc. are also ways to have visitors spend more time on your site.
- Keep them coming back to you as a resource for sales information. Visitors want to know what properties are selling for in a given area. If your Board of Realtors allows you to post closed sales to the web, update all the sales for your service area at least once per month. If your Board doesn't permit posting of addresses and exact sales prices, you can post price ranges and general amenities. For example:
$125,000-$150,000 Shady Hollow Subdivision
3 bedroom 2.5 bath, pool, family room, 1 story, wooded lot
4 bedroom 3.5 bath, family room, remodeled, 2 story brick.
For additional information, email us at (and insert your email address) - Change your site frequently so it's different each time someone visits. Since mortgage information changes constantly, you may want to provide a link to a lender who updates. Another excellent resource to update your website with real estate news is through Inman.com. Having "fresh" information invites your visitor to repeatedly return to your site. Also, the more professional your website and content appears, the more likely you are to hear from your website visitors.
To contact Bernice Ross please email her at bernice@realestatecoach.com.
