| Creating
Web Sites for Realtors
by Terry Light
introduction
Having a web site is becoming increasingly important for
Realtors. Studies show that homebuyers are twice as likely to get on the internet to get
information about real estate than consumers for other products. The internet is
becoming the quickest growing marketing channel for you to hook up with potential clients.
Plus, your competition is getting on the internet in ever-increasing numbers. Can you
afford not to?
Web Site Benefits
Your web site works as a toll-free number for clients and
prospects to get information about you and buying real estate. Instead of having to answer
the phone, your marketing message is presented on a computer, available at all times of
night or day.
The primary function of your web site should be to present information, because that is
what homebuyers are looking for as they surf the web. If your web site contains no more
information than a pamphlet, it will be quickly passed by as the web visitor looks for a
more substantial source of information.
You can post advice about home buying and information on your listings. You can respond
to information from interactive forms and email. You can have homebuyer tools, such as
calculators and glossaries. You can create a FAQs (frequently asked questions) page to
answer the most common homebuyer questions. You can create links to other sites that have
information you do not have the ability or time to place on your own web site.
An effective web site is one that gives you credibility as a Realtor. Simply having
your face, company name and a phone number is no longer effective on the web. You have to
overwhelm the web visitor with information, and you cannot do that by simply having a page
on the web (or no page at all). You need a web site so that you can impressively overwhelm
the homebuyer with information and your expertise and usefulness as a Realtor.
What follows is an overview of what will be discussed in
upcoming installments.
The Steps to Web Site Success
Name Your Web Site
You need to name and register your web site. This will
become your identity on the web. Some Realtors use their name, some use the community
where they work (though those are probably taken by now), and some use unique names. The
key is to make it easy to remember (not too generic), as short as possible, and to make
sure the name is available by checking with Network Solutions or another domain
registration service.
Determine the Size and Content of
Your Site
Get out a piece of paper and draw a square at the top of
the page. Label this as your home page. Then draw squares below this page
labeling what content you would like to be in your web site. You are creating the
flow chart for your web. Below each square, draw and label new squares that include
everything you would like to include in your site. When you are done, you have the
basic structure of your web site as you intend it to be. This flow chart will be
essential when you contact web developers or you build the site on your own.
Build Your Site
You can decide to build it on your own, but there is a
monstrous learning curve associated with doing so. You can hire a professional web
developer to create a web site from scratch, but that can be very expensive. You can
hire a firm to create a "template" site for you, but then your site looks like
all the rest and does not contain much internal content. Or you can get someone to
create a ready-made web site that you have the ability to edit on your own with available
software. It depends on how effective you want to be on the web, how much time,
ability, and desire you have to learn a new technology, and how much money you have to
spend to maximize your success.
Host Your Site
In order for your web site to be accessible to visitors, it
must be hosted by a domain provider. If you used a web designer, he will probably
have a preference where you locate the site in case the need arises to make changes.
If you created the web site yourself or you intend to learn to edit the site on
your own, you must choose a domain host that is compatible with your software. Also,
it will be very important to you that they have a high level of customer service and that
your domain host is accessible by telephone. You will have many questions in the
beginning.
Market Your Site
"If you build it, they will come," does not apply
on the internet. You have to register with all of the search engines, which means
you will also have to build your site so that it is "search engine friendly."
This includes the use of meta-tags and other technical knowledge you will learn as
you go. You must also find places on the internet that will provide
"hyper-inks" to your web site. A link is when a web visitor can simply
"click" on the text of someone else's web site and be transported to your site.
You should also be sure to put your web address on all of your marketing materials,
such as business cards, stationery, flyers, pamphlets, door hangers, and so on.
Track Your Visitors
You will need to know how many visitors come to your web
site to know how effective your marketing has become. You also need to know the
"referring pages" so you know how web visitors came to be on your site in the
first place. In this way, you can determine the effectiveness of your link partners
or your search engine strategy. Later, you will want to know which pages get visited
most often and the most common routes through your web site.
The next installment will be GETTING
STARTED, which has not been written yet. |
