RealTown's RealTalk

this is really great advice, thank  you. last year i spent many hours researching and sifting through the website creation maze. templates vs. custom, idx, etc. i'm pretty happy with it so far but, unfortunately havent been able to go to the next step of customizing with additional features on your list. the downturn in the market has put made me pull back on a few things for 2008. however, i did spend marketing dollars for increasing my links reciprocation. thats all i have for now, i will certainly keep your suggestions in mind while reviewing my site in the future. also, would love to hear your feedback on my site if you have a chance to look at it.

kind regards,

nick douvris, oregon broker, ePro

www.nwrealtybynick.com

Interesting topic.  Here are my 10:

1. Customizable Design - You don’t want your site to look like everyone else’s!
    
2. Customizable Content - You should be able to add your own content and images in as unstructured an approach as possible. Other things to look for:
   • Visitors will tend to stay on your site longer and visit more often if you have valuable information for them. Search engines like content, too. You should be able to add more pages than you ever think you’ll need.
   • At some level, it should be possible to access, add to and change the HTML code for individual pages. You may not be an HTML expert, but there will be times when you want to add a bit of HTML code that is supplied to you. 
      
3. Access to Individual Page Titles and Meta Tags - The ability to fine-tune this information is a necessity in order to optimize your website for search engine ranking.
    
4. Search Engine Friendly - Websites should use “clean” code that meets HTML code standards. However, analyzing a vendor’s HTML code is often beyond many people’s expertise. There are a couple of other issues you can review:
   • Determine if the website uses frames on the internal pages. In general, using frames makes it more difficult for the search engines to read web pages, which can have an impact on your chance to achieve high search engine rankings. To an extent, how the frames are implemented will determine how much of a problem you’ll have. The best alternative is to choose a vendor that does not use frames.
   • If a flash introduction page is offered, make sure it’s an option. Your home page is prime real estate and shouldn’t be given over to a flash presentation.
      
5. IDX MLS Integration - The primary reason that visitors land on real estate websites is to search the local MLS listings. Make sure the website has an easy way to incorporate an IDX MLS search function.
    
6. Featured Listings - Most MLS data does not include all the information that is necessary to do the most effective job of marketing your listings. Make sure your website lets you create your own “featured listings” to highlight your seller’s property.
    
7. Contact Database - The overall objective for a real estate website is to generate leads. Your website should provide contact forms, and the information your visitors enter into those forms should be stored in a contact database. The more information that is tracked about your visitors, the better.
    
8. Website Statistics - You’ll learn a great deal from the information provided by a website statistics program. You can determine which pages are most popular, how long visitors stay on your site, when search engines visit the site, which keywords are being used to find your site in the search engines, and a wealth of other information that will help you manage your website. 
   • Keep in mind that if your website of choice doesn’t provide a robust set of visitor statistics, you can use third-party programs by adding a bit of HTML code to your pages. Of course, that means you need the ability to add HTML to your pages.
      
9. Content Management System - The Content Management System (CMS) allows you to access the website’s “back office” to edit pages, manage contacts, and so forth. Find out how you can try out the CMS for any website you are considering. If the vendor cannot provide access to a test website, ask why. Make sure the use of the CMS makes sense to you. 
   • Find out if there are any areas on the site where changes cannot be made. If you are prohibited from making specific changes, find out what the cost and turnaround will be to have the vendor make changes for you.
      
10. Technical Support - It doesn’t matter what level of technical expertise you possess, there will always be questions to be answered. Make sure your vendor provides friendly, timely, accurate assistance. Training is a nice addition, too.

Kathleen Allardyce

Well said. I think that anyone who really wants to use their website as a tool to increase prospect traffic would also include your Top 10 as well.

Randy Eagar, CRS
President, Webstarget SEO
www.Webstarget.com

Randy,

Do you have any advice  for REALTOR Association websites?  There are similiarities but some real differences from REALTOR websites.  We are in the final stages of selecting a vendor and would like to have a list of Top 10 Questions we should ask!

Pam MacConnell

The choice of providers for websites is obviously extremely important for your online presence.

Those who have taken the NAR e-PRO course might remember module 3 where it lists some things to consider:

Content is King - A good and resourceful website requires content so that your visitors not only come to your website, but they keep returning to it as well. A real estate website should contain not just information about the agent and property listings, but also local information about the area to keep the return visits coming.

Design The design of your site is almost as important as the content.

Template sites have come a long way in design, content and the ability of users to make changes. Websites can be created to allow for what is referred to as Web-based editing. This type of site can be self-edited from anyone's computer and can be done by a novice with little or no Web skills. It allows for what some are referring to as Web on-the-fly-changes that can be made instantly without waiting for a programmer and without paying programmer wages. Many real estate agents and brokers today are taking advantage of this technology. In some cases, virtual assistants will help you customize your template site at a reasonable charge.

Beyond these three considerations, a real estate professional really needs to decide what their goals of having a website are. Just getting on the web for the sake of getting on the web won't necessarily produce results.

The customer facing site is just the beginning of a powerful web presence. There are many back office tools that can be employed to really leverage the power of a great website. When choosing a website designer or provider, make sure to ask about how the site captures leads, generates activity reports, exposes your listings on the web and how the site can turn casual browsers into clients.

Shane Baillargeon
Point2 Agent
Manager, Real Estate Sales

Alain Miller wrote - "Content is King - A good and resourceful website requires content so that your visitors not only come to your website, but they keep returning to it as well. A real estate website should contain not just information about the agent and property listings, but also local information about the area to keep the return visits coming." And Shane Baillargeon wrote - "Those who have taken the NAR e-PRO course might remember module 3 where it lists some things to consider:"  and then he restated the same text about content that Alain cited.

The problem implied by that Module 3 statement is that some people have misread it to mean "the more web pages I have, the better!" Which just isn't true. Instead, good, optimized content is King! Perhaps that statement then really needs to be revised in the e-PRO course to give it better clarity.

First, what is "optimized content"? The use of body text and keyword placement throughout your pages for both the search engines and your site visitors. The location of relevant text on your site will help establish the overall importance of your target phrase(s). While you don't want to overwhelm the search engines and site visitors with a bombardment of target phrases at the top of the page, try to sprinkle in some instances as close to the top of the page as possible. So that handles the "optimized" part by defining it for you. But what about "good"?

It is really nice to think that a real estate agent's web site would constantly bring back returning visitors. And perhaps the content will while your visitors are engaged in either the buying or selling process... coming back more than once to research properties or view your other site content. But lets be practical - few current visitors will keep returning once they have gone to closing on their next home or sold their property and now moved on - until the next time they need you or your services. Unfortunately, that may be several years down the road.

While the subject of real estate is constantly uppermost in our minds each and every day - we do tend to "live, eat and breathe it" -  it just isn't for our visitors. You might research new tires for your car at www.goodyeartires.com or www.firestone.com, even returning even several times before you then head off to purchase a new set. But are you really going to check back often to read about tires after they are now on your car? You may go to www.lowes.com to research and get prices for upgrading your kitchen appliances. But once you have bought and installed them in your house, are you really going back again and again to read more about appliances? The answer to both is probably "No" (unless you have a tire or appliance "fetish" Ha!). Your real estate site is really only "sticky" for the time frame today's visitors are thinking about buying or selling. Perhaps the old adage needs to be reversed, "Out of mind, out of sight!" When they are no longer thinking about real estate, they are no longer inclined to return to your site - no matter what cool content you have. That is just no longer the focus of their daily lives.

Is it "good" content to fill up your site with articles that visitors can take away tips from without ever using you? So many template providers, not knowing what you want to really say to your visitors, will offer you "canned" content to use instead so that you have some form of content on Day 1. Content articles like "Determining your offer price", "Contingencies in Purchase Offers", "Fixing up the house exterior", and so many more examples that I found just this morning on different agent sites. Yet before the Web, if a prospective buyer or seller wanted to know all of this information, they needed to sit down with a real estate professional like yourself who would guide them through these topics while you were also building rapport at the same time to try to convert these people into clients. But the "geeks" who post these articles for you to use as site content must not be "salespeople" who understand that while you "train" your prospects in understanding all of the "ins and outs" of these topics, you also are in front of them "closing" them on using you as their agent too! It is part of your "sales process" or presentation. In the past, this gave you additional value in the consumers' eyes and helped to justify your brokerage fee to them because you were personally taking the time to explain all of this to them in person. So now let's just give it all away (just because we can and we need some "stock" content)... so your visitor can get "educated" before going off to use a different agent in your marketplace or even selling their property as a FSBO! You've told them everything they need to know without ever closing them for any commitment to you! Wow, your site is not www.WebMD.com! "Today, I am going to show you how to do Open Heart Surgery yourself." Ha!

The other problem though has to do with simply filling up the site with content that visitors don't care about at all. Sure, it is "content", but in 2008, are many visitors really going to sign your guest book? (Gee, how come I didn't see one of those over at www.microsoft.com? Will Bill Gates personally thank me for signing in? Ha!) Are past visitors really going to come back month after month to read your online newsletter (unless you prod them)? Do almost all of your visitors click on your Testimonial page? Is a mortgage calculator anything more than a little on-line game to play? It meets their curiosity, but isn't your loan officer really going to refine that for them at the actual loan application? Is a podcast or videocast cool for real estate? Or is that just another "filler" since most agents are not good public speakers? As an agent, you use your personal communication skills to monitor how your live presentation is going over by watching your prospects' body language to tell if they are understanding you or even paying any attention. You will have a hard time really knowing if it was that effective on the Web. And your mannerisms or even your tone of voice could be actually be turning them off.

So few agent web sites give the visitor insights into how that agent really works with buyers or sellers - their real estate philosophy, so to speak. This is far more important in selecting the right agent than guest books, mortgage calculators or "10 Tips to Sell My House"! Your visitor wants to know if you will be a good "match" for them and together make a great "team" to solve their real estate problem. Its your on-screen job interview! What are you doing to "sell" me on contacting you? Giving me toys to play with, articles I don't need or videos I don't want to watch? Or are you explaining how you are going to help me!

Think carefully about the content you have on your site. It needs to be good AND optimized content!


Win

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Win Singleton, CRB, e-PRO
Summit Web Design
(703) 536-7631
wins@summitweb.com
http://Summitweb.InternetCrusade.com
an Internet Crusade Approved Vendor
"Custom web site design that gets results!"
************************

Randy,

These are great questions for agents to consider.   Randy, I am so impressed with the quality of your services and your knowledge.  We are providing a custom web solution for one of your clients and this will be a $10,000 investment with design and seo.  It's a daunting process for any agent, especially if they have done their homework.

There are many times that agents comes to us and they are completely confused and on information overload.  SEO companies are selling seo without understanding design and conversion.  Get um to the top and the rest will stick - doesn't work that way.

Design companies are creating wow looking sites that have little or no understanding of seo.  Agents have a pretty site that show up nowhere in the search engines.  They have to go back to the designer to add/move/delete pages on a true custom design.  Some of these companies charge $100 per additional page to add - ouch.

I have searched high a low for a solution to provide our clients.  We only do custom sites.  We have been able to give clients wow sites, some are at the top of the search engines, and producing income.  All is great.  

The next step for us was providing that WOW factor with a site that is flexible, scalable and makes money.   It was important for our clients to have it all and be able to work on their custom sites without us charging them everytime they wanted to add pages to their custom design.  I never want to lock a client into working with us, or having the client pay each time they wanted a new page added to their custom design.

Template sites are just that.  They are perfect in many instances.  I would never suggest that someone spend $10K without a full understanding of what they are getting and what are their options.

So the next question becomes if I purchase a template site, will it be scalable and flexible for my WOW site that I am dreaming of?  If I put all this time, energy and money into a site, will I have to change providers and start all over again to have a custom site that I can work on easily, move navigation, change navigation, add/move/delete my own sub-navigation or drop-down pages? 

The new generation of web hosting providers can give you a template that can be completely scaled into a custom site with all the necessary tools, state-of-the-art-technology and excellent customer service.

Sincerely,

Cherie Young
Online Marketing Strategies
www.CherieYoung.com
760.782.0103