Purpose of Your Website

[chachi]

Had an interesting discussion the other day with a good friend of mine about conversion and/or the purpose of people's websites. We were talking about other professions, but I thought it might be interesting to discuss what people feel the purpose of their website is. After seeing many of the real estate agent websites out there, it seems their purpose is simply to have a website.

For me, our San Diego commercial real estate website was originally a way for us to see deals when they first came on the market.

I guess most webmasters/real estate agents/brokers never think about a few key pieces when deploying a website:

1) Who are you trying to attract
2) What is the mindset or personality of the typical user on your website
3) What is the best way to speak to the people you are trying to attract to your website.
4) What is the goal for the people on your website? To call you? Email you? Send you a check for $5,000?
5) What is the best way to put those people on your website into a funnel and get them to do what you want them to do?

Just a few thoughts.

Jason

[FredLight]

I totally agree.... most RE websites are very similar, very fuzzy and very 'all over the place'... They are not focused on anything specific... either on buyers, on sellers, on locations, on relocation.... and as a result they aren't focused on anything.

Not only does focusing your site help make you stand out amongst the crowd of websites that all look nearly identical (I do think its all about specialization ... in any kind of marketing... those who specialize in something very specific seem to do very well), but from an optimization standpoint, I think you stand a better chance of ranking higher in the SERPs if your site (and optimization) is focused on something very specific, instead of dilluting your message by being unable to get very in depth or specific about anything.

I recently started a new website I Sold This House.com for a client of mine. This is his second website, but we took a different approach.

This site focuses on ONLY one thing - why you should LIST your house with him. Why he can provide you with better and more thorough internet marketing on his other website than any other Realtor®. There is no MLS search, no town or school descriptions... nothing geared towards buyers at all. But it shows, blow by blow, exactly what he will do to market your home (should you list with him), with specific examples and samples of flyers, marketing materials, website traffic, newspaper ads, top search engine rankings, etc.

It's totally about how he can market your home better than anyone - especially online.

It launched last week, he took out an ad in the newspaper last Thursday, which resulted in 2 listings before 9am the same day, which essentially paid for all of his advertising, the rest is yet to come.

It has set him apart, makes him look good, and is getting the listings, which is the whole point. Even the ad was different... it was advertising the website - no houses, no listings, no free CMA, none of the other typical RE BS that is in everyone else's ads, which makes them all look exactly the same. The ad also ran in the business section, NOT in the real estate section - again - he went off and did things very differently. And it appears to be paying off.

So yes, I definitely agree that finding a PURPOSE for your website, as well as all of your marketing will help set you apart from the standard Realtor® - which are the vast majority out there.

[MikeDammann]

As a search engine optimizer serving many clients I could not agree more. People seem to be so set on certain keyterms that they waste so much energy, time and money to achieve what they consider a status symbol. Then they complain about that out of so and so many visitors wasting bandwidth, the sales are minimal. My most successful clients are the ones who listen as much as they speak and then come to a compromise about what road to take.

My advice: speak to the people and not the search engines. Google will choose well and like I said, most of my sales do not come from the best terms I own, but some offbeat little ones, the few "accidental ones" which make 3 sales out of 10 searches contrast to 1 sale out of 800 searches.

Be open minded and flexible and know what you want!

[Jim Erickson]

What you all are talking about is target marketing. Traditional target marketing would be to place ads in published venues that would appeal to a certain market segment. Another traditional method is to know who your target market is and proceed with a direct mail campaign. Most people with websites think "build it and they will come" and try to attract anybody which ends up being nobody. The website should be no different in appealing to a certain market. If your market is "Tim-buc-too Lakeshore Homes", the website should be right at the top of search querys for anybody looking.

In my opinion, one has to have a market niche which will make it possible to identify that market. Your business cards, mailings, ads, promotional and websites should all be very clear, focused and total energy expended on that market.

[chachi]

Jim, I think you are on track. What I was really attempting to focus on was what people are trying to do with the people that do make it to their website. I think most of the people that read these forums are able to drive (hopefully) targeted traffic to their websites. I am curious what people are attempting to do with them once they make it there.

What is the goal, the action you would like your site visitors to take? How do you get them to take that action?

[SanDiego]

I want people to contact me by phone or email (whichever they feel most confortable with) and allow me to offer my real estate services to them. If they buy, to get them started on buying... if they sell, the help them sell...

My site is mainly for them to contact me and choose me as their real estate agent/REALTOR.

I have other sites I am working on that are about MLS stuff (which hopefully will have them FIND the home they want and if they haven't yet - to them contact me). I am thinking about adding a Post transaction area especically for past clients to give feedback and recommendations at their leisure.

The purpose of my website is to bring me business by helping others out.


Does that work Chachi? If not, I can rewrite it....

[Jim Erickson]

With my first agent website, I decided that its purpose was to be an internet brochure. Upon first contract, I would hand out my card and announce that they will find good information about real estate, learn about my business, read what my clients say about my services and can also learn about who I am, my family, hobbies, etc.

I recently developed a second website that specifically targets a market. This site is all business and no fluff. Traffic will be driven to the site through traditional direct marketing, search queries & directories.

[SanDiego]

that sounds like a perfect plan Jim...

I wouldn't mind getting several sites done soon to capture a few of the major target markets here in SD - without a niche but become a major player!
Now all I need is the time to do it...lol

[sward]

I built our sites to target buyers as we prefer to be a buyer's agent, so we do have areas of the site that tell about the different communities in our selling area. We do have an MLS search feature and we also place our listings and other office listings on the site. I break it down to type property and price range to make it easy to navigate and target specific area keywords such as Hiawassee Georgia
because I have found by doing so that we reach our target market and not someone looking in say south Georgia. That is why when you optimize you do need to know your market and who you want to reach.
Good question

[Phoenix]

My first and main website Phoenix Real Estate was kind of "all over the place". Lately though I have been narrowing it down. I will be doing some further 'narrowing' soon, because I am getting leads from all over The Valley Of The Sun and I mostly only work the NE Valley.

My second site - Paradise Valley Real Estate - is brand new so no real content yet but I have pages in the back office not released yet that need a bit more work. Not to mention the entire site needs my attention, but one day at a time. Its only focus is a small town where my office is located, Paradise Valley Arizona. Though I will focus on both buyers and sellers, again. I do own a URL for future use as a sellers only site, www ArizonaSellers com.

So much to do, so little time in a day!