| Be
Prepared: What
To Tell Your Web Site Developer
by Barbara Cox
Good Web site developers know how to
create handsome sites that are easy to navigate. They also know how to
construct Web sites so that search engines will find them when users
search for keywords related to the site content.
Good developers of Web sites for real
estate agents and offices have some understanding of the primary
audience, buyers and sellers of properties. They may even know something
about property databases, real estate transactions, the world of home
finance, and your local community.
So you give them your photo, a business
card with the office logo, and your money and they get to work. Voila!
Instant fabulously effective Web site. Yes? Web traffic statistics
that Amazon.com would envy. Your e-mailbox clogged with client queries—pleas
for you to e-list homes. Right? Hardly.
Nearly instant Web site, maybe, but
probably one whose effectiveness is more fantasy than fact. To develop a
site that communicates what is special about you and your experience,
your strengths and talents, your unique style and services, your Web
designer needs more than your business card and credit card.
Critical Information
for your Web Designer
Be prepared to provide your Web site
designer with critical information about your market position, Web
marketing goals, and your audience, and you will greatly enhance the
probability that your Web site will reward you. If you are planning to
build a Web site in the near future, start now to assemble a file with
the stuff to make your Web site sing …
- Market
Position Information. A description (or checklist) of
what makes you (and your company) stand out; the facets of your
services or your firm that you want to highlight. Write down words
or phrases that describe you and the way you like to work. Are you
persistent, assertive, detail-oriented? Do you excel working with
contract language, finding buyers for hard-to-sell properties, or
negotiating with determined owners? Do you specialize in a
particular type of property (recreation, upscale, equestrian, REO,
etc.)? or in working with certain types of clients (seniors,
first-time-buyers, out-of-area sellers ...)?
Make notes of these characteristics for
the person who writes the text of your site to work from. Also try to
create a Unique Market Position Statement—a statement that
captures important aspects of you and your work and communicates them
in just a few words that are easy to remember. Are you the Executive
Home Expert, the Relocation Specialist, or the Mountain Resort Homes
Realtor®? Try writing it as a tagline or bumper sticker. Jenny Sloan—Serving
Sellers in Sarasota. Red McDaniel—the Realtor® who Really Listens!
Herb Perkins, the Home Buyers' Best Friend. Charlie and Rose Garza,
the Team that Works for You!
- Target
Audience(s) Information. Write out a description or list
of characteristics of your main audience. Pretend that a friend has
asked you to describe your clients. Are they young? retired?
parents? professionals? Do they like animals? drive a mini-van? go
to baseball games? Are they more likely to shop at K-Mart or Saks
Fifth Avenue? to barbecue hot dogs or salmon steaks? to go to the
opera or a rock concert?
Knowing this information will help the
writer of your Web text prepare material that is appropriate for your
primary audience. You want visitors to your site to recognize that you
understand their priorities, lifestyle, and what they will need from a
real estate agent.
- Any art—logo,
company colors, or custom graphics
— that the designer should use. Photos of yourself.
Yes, photos taken with clients and showing properties. But also
photos taken in other settings, such as at a conference, using a
computer, driving a car, or doing volunteer work . These photos are
an important means of helping your Web site visitors get to know you
as an individual, someone who is more than a collection of real
estate services.
Some other information
you should provide:
- A short list
of Web sites whose appearance you like. These do not have
to be real estate sites—just sites whose "look ‘n’
feel" appeal to you. Showing your designer what you like is
much more effective than trying to describe it in words.
- Notes on
special content or features that you would like included on your
site. Are there any special resources or unique
assistance that you can offer site visitors? or partners or
alliances that you want to acknowledge in your site in return for
reciprocal links? What site features do you expect? a searchable
listings database, links to MLS search sites, contact forms,
mortgage calculator, community links? Start making the wish list.
- Material for
special pages that you want created, for example: a
personal biography; testimonials from past clients; articles you
have written about the home selling or buying processes; other
materials related to your positioning and/or your target audience.
In addition, have an idea of what you
expect to spend for the construction, maintenance, and hosting of your
site so that you can evaluate the designer’s proposed pricing.
Now when you hand over your business card
and credit card to a Web developer, you just might get what you want ...
a site that makes visitors recognize immediately that you are the
agent they need.
Copyright 2000 Barbara Cox
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