What makes a great website?

[MikeM]

Our local MLS does not allow us to use IDX on our websites for listing searches so I have to rely on other items to attract customers.

I read a lot on REW that it's important to have a great website to pull in leads, but what constitutes a "great website"? Besides being able to search for properties (since I can't do that), what type of information would you include that would set your site above the rest of the agent sites out there?

My site is www.MikeSellsPittsburgh.com so you can see what I have so far.

[coastal]

WOW!

http://www.mikesellspittsburgh.com/o...gs/view-8.html Price: USD $ 269,900

If that were in my market it would be 1 mill + I'd make you an offer right now.

It's a nice looking site. How does it rank on google.

You can have a crappy site that ranks well on google make you more $$ than a great looking site with no rank. I did not do the homework to see if you rank well or not but your site has everything it needs to bring in some leads.

[anoroc]

Mike, I love your site. BAP too.

Here's mine and a work in progress- www.bestiowahomes.com

[MikeM]

Michael,

Yes it is a nice house. The seller remodeled the inside for himself and then his job transfered him out of state. He was not happy. Pittsburgh has some amazing homes for the prices and thankfully we never were affected by the "bubble". We've had a steady 3-4% growth every year. Our taxes are high but the cost of living isn't too bad.

As far as my site, I have no idea what it ranks. I'm not even sure how to check it. Is there a secret to finding out?

I've only received a few leads from it that ended up going nowhere. There are about 4 big brokers in the Pittsburgh area (we're number 2 with over 1000 agents) and they're in first Google page if you search Pittsburgh Real Estate. I'm sure I'd never out rank them.

Maybe I could use smaller townships as keywords instead of Pittsburgh. How can I find out if anyone does searches for real estate within townships in my area?

Rick, you site looks good. And I guess you could say we're all in a "work in progress" mode

[Michael Paul Eau Claire]

Michael,

Maybe I could use smaller townships as keywords instead of Pittsburgh. How can I find out if anyone does searches for real estate within townships in my area?

MikeM-

Mike #3 weighing in...

One way would be to create a google adwords account. You don't necessarily have to buy a bunch of ads, either...you can spend as little as $5 and still get data. Just enter in a bunch of surrounding towns as keywords and after a week or so you'll have some hints on what is popular.

I know others in here have used free keyword suggester sites as well. I can't think of any at the moment. The problem I've found with those is that they don't tend to work well on smaller areas with smaller traffic and the accuracy is questionable.

[Michael Paul Eau Claire]

or try this first...

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

[Overseas]

Mike nice site - you can easily rank higher than the competition

it's all about Keywords, keywords work on them a little more - also get some good backlinks - see the top listers and see where there backlinks are from!

wish you well, i'll be taking a quick look from time to time at the site