Below are the primary marketing components of a successful real estate website. It is recommended you evaluate your website and ask yourself what's missing or what needs to be edited. By implementing these helpful tips your website will be positioned to enjoy better results (ie. more leads)

1. Use Headlines and Sub Headlines-Make it bold with H1 and H2 tags.

2. Use WOW Content-Include content that excites, attracts and delivers useful high-value information. Michael Russer calls it WOW content. Recommendation: Make sure the content is fresh and relevant! Use more emotional and colorful descriptive words. Example: Buying a home is more than selecting lumber, mortar and concrete, your new home will be a place where memories are made, the place where Johnny took his first steps, the home where Suzy first attended kindergarten. You're selling emotions not building materials.
3. Make the site sticky using WOW content. Keep the visitor on your site and make them want to come back time and time again. Use linked words in the text to "interlace" your articles and tools to other resources within your site.
4. Your website should be a rich resource for people to come to. Not a place to send site visitors to other websites.
5. Use compelling offers to engage site visitors and solicit a response. Example of a Compelling offer: To receive your complimentary 2007 3^rd quarter Sunnyvale Real Estate Market Overview, enter your name and email address in the form below. Another type of compelling offer that is delayed: Buyers who use the ? Team to purchase a home exceeding $500K in value; you will receive a complimentary limousine ride to their closing along with a Monte Blanc pen to sing your closing documents. Using more compelling offers will increase your leads, hence one of the primary reasons for having a site.
6. Consistently use your logo. Position the logo in the top left corner. It's your identity. It tells the world who you are. Make sure all of your marketing materials have the same look and feel of your website including listing presentations, flyers, ads, postcards, newsletters…everything. Do you think Coke would use any online or offline medium without their red ribbon? Of course not!

7. Make sure the site is coded to be cross-browser compatible with Internet Explorer (multiple versions), Firefox and Safari.

8. Eliminate new windows that open within your site. This confuses the site visitor and it is distracting and disconcerting too.
9. Use a UPS. What's your UPS? Your Unique Positioning Statement. It's what sets you apart from your competition. What makes you different from all the other Realtors in your town? Your UPS should state a value, what makes you different and compels the site visitor to take action…. contact you!
10. Tagline: Use it to convey emotion and value. A REMAX Realtor in Raleigh has an outstanding tagline. "Bringing Harmony to Your Home Buying & Selling Experience!" In addition to being a REMAX top producer, she is a passionate first chair violinist for the NC Symphony!
11. Structure your content to be scanable and incorporate bullets. Remember: Less is more! We are all scanners and not readers. That's what has resulted from the Internet. We start at the top left corner (that's why you place your logo in the top left corner) and scan to the bottom right corner.

12. Always add fresh, relevant content. Google and your site visitors love fresh content. For the site visitor, it keeps them coming back for more! If your copy is "canned" and 50,000 other real estate professionals use the same copy, hire a professional copywriter to write copy that relates to your target audience. Make sure the content is site visitor focused by using you and your when addressing the site visitors needs.

13. Always ask the site visitor to take action. Never have the article or page have a dead-end. At the end of the article, ask the site visitor to take action…read another article or respond to an offer….
14. Are you linking to sites via link farms? If you are, you might be linking to sites that utilize black hat programming. Don't risk having your site "blacklisted" because of guilt by association.
15. A website design should relate well to your target audience. Use imagery that connects to your audience. If you target the luxury market, make sure the imagery "speaks" to the luxury market with luxurious photos and graphics.

While this is list fairly comprehensive, it is not complete. By using these core components, your website will be better positioned for greater success.

Let me know your thoughts.

To Your Success,

Bobby