All About the
Real Estate Industry on the Internet
Creating A Web Page For Your Business
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We often create things like web pages based upon the way we surf the net and what our interests are. But this often is not they way our potential customers go about their surfing. So, when we set out to design a page for our business we must keep this in mind.
For the surfer who is looking to make a purchase on the web the first step in the process is selecting the web site or page that he will click on. This means he is making a decision even before he opens the page. So, the first thing we are concerned with is the page title and the summary that the surfer sees on the search engine results. The search engines typically pick up the page title as it is listed in the HTML text...... the summary is most often either the "description" meta tag provided by the page creator or it is text taken from the first few lines of the page. Only one search engine attempts to actually summarize the page (Excite/AOLnetfind) and often fails at that. So, we must be concerned with this issue first as we design a page.
Assuming the title and summary shown by the search engine successfully attracts the surfer, he opens our page. Now we face the next hurdle. First off, if the page loads too slowly the visitor will click back out to the search engine results before the page even finishes downloading. When the page appears on the visitors screen what ever the visitor first sees must convince him to look further by scrolling down the page. Other wise, he immediately clicks back out to the search engine results to find a better page. So, the page must down load fast and present appropriate information at the top most portion that is seen when the page opens.
GETTING THE VISITORS E-MAIL ADDRESS
If we have accomplished this, we have now gotten the visitors attention and can proceed to "sell" him. This means we want to progressively communicate information that will motivate him to contact us. This can go so far as to create a desire on his part to give us his E-Mail address. We can do this by offering something that he wants and requiring an E-Mail address to send it to. This can be accomplished with an auto-responder that automatically sends the page immediately after the customer has sent his request.
This might be a page of links to all sorts of information that he would like to have. The page can include a mortgage calculator, sources for mortgages, a list of local service providers for home buyers (decorators, appraisers, landscapers) and local information sources. Naturally this page also contains an additional sales pitch by yourself..... and may offer a form to be filled out for you to do a Home Search for the customer.....and for him to ask questions....
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CONTENT
Now, what about content? If you are seriously pursuing business you must look at your pages as if they are sales literature. You want to convince the reader to choose you as their Realtor (appraiser, home inspector, etc.). So, you want to tell them why they should select you, give them your credentials, explain what you do for them. Be sure to put your office address in along with phone numbers. Think though, do you want to put your pager # or your mobile phone number up on the Internet? Testimonials from clients are always a good idea. Awards and other recognition you have received tell the reader that you perform. Do you want to put up listings? The value of listings on a Realtors site is something that is still being determined. There are many Realtors who do not have listings on line and they are doing very well on the net. Others credit their listings with drawing business. Listings or not, you need to indicate to the reader that you can show them the home that they want. This means that between listings, pictures of homes and the narrative content you must send the message that you have a wide range of homes of all types in your inventory. Providing a general description of home types, price ranges and locations will accomplish this.
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LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Another thing we need to add to the site is content by way of links to other sites that have information our readers may need. This also earns points for the ratings given by most of the search engines. We commonly will place links to the local Chamber of Commerce, City and State links. Generally these are "safe" in that they do not have our competitors listed on them. Some Realtors have placed links to Realtor.com and to home listing sites. I personally don't recommend it. Any link you place in your site creates the possibility of "loosing" your visitor. A visitor can only get back to your site via his browsers "back" button and if he has transverse through a number of pages on the other site, he may not be willing to click back through those pages to get to your site.
DETAILS, DETAILS
As you are developing your site remember that many of your readers are using computers that may have a smaller screen than yours and that they may be using a modem running at 14,400 or less. Don't use fonts smaller than 12 point and keep tables to a width that can be handled by smaller screen. Place links back to the home page on each of your pages. On pages that scroll down a distance place "return to top of page" links.
<<<<More to come>>>>